nateniale's travels

"Another suburb in Singapore" - That is what they call Bintan Resorts which is a section in Bintan Island in Indonesia. That was one of the reason why I had been reluctant to go to Bintan after more than 5 years in Singapore, although it was just a 45-minute ferry ride away. When we suddenly found ourselves free one of the weekends in between many hectic weeks, we decided to plan a 3-day getaway in Bintan. (Well, it was mainly because all the flights to elsewhere were expensive at such short notice!) There are various resorts to choose from in Bintan, but we decided to go for Nirwana Gardens and spent three days of doing nothing! We walked around the beach, had long coffee breaks in between, and lie down by the swimming pool reading under the sun. There were flowers and greenery throughout the resort, and even a small area with various exotic animals. Apparently, the animals were confiscated by the custom. For those looking for more things to do, there are sea sports, e...

{  Vientiane,  Laos - August 2010 } If you read my post on my exciting and adventurous journey to and from Vientiane , you would come to the conclusion that Vientiane is unexciting and unadventurous. And, you would be right. I read this quote somewhere that says, “The Vietnamese plant the rice, the Cambodians watch it grow and the Lao listen to it grow". Having been to all three countries, I would agree with the analogy. Well, maybe I do not have the full picture of Laos since I was only in the capital Vientiane, but it was a holiday in a city that we soon realised, we did not have enough activities to fill the three and a half days that we were there. And so, we took it slow, covering a few places each day, taking our time during meals and having lots of coffee breaks in between. Here are some of the places we went in Vientiane. Patuxai At the northeasatern end of the LaneXang Ave. arises a huge structure resembling the Arc de Triomphe. It is the Patux...

I had two very different beach holiday over the past two months.  The first was a drive up from Singapore to Peninsular Malaysia's East Coast. We managed to cover quite a distance and visited a few small towns within three days. And last weekend, we went to Bintan Resort which was less than an hour ferry ride from Singapore. It is in the Indonesian Bintan Island but mainly targeted for Singapore tourist. We basically did nothing but walked around the beach and soaked in the sun.  Both had been interesting in its own ways, and I promise that I'll write about both soon! { Click here for a list of my travelogues }

Apart from the crazy journey to the capital of Laos, we had a very laid-back and relaxing holiday. Here are some photos from Vientiane before the full travelogue is out! { Click here for a list of my travelogues }

When I was planning our trip to Vientiane, Laos, I thought that the little known country (at least to me!) would be an interesting trip compared to the other usual weekend trips from Singapore . Little did I know that the journey to get there (and back) would be more adventurous than the destination! And the drama unfolded even before our actual journey... Buying the air tickets There were no direct flights from Singapore to Vientiane, and so I scoured for flights that would get us there. No direct flights meant airport transfers and connections and so I spent time going through the many airline websites searching for the cheapest flights and the best connections. I finally decided on an AirAsia flight from Kuala Lumpur (KL) to Vientiane, with connecting flight from Singapore to KL on Tiger Airways . AirAsia planes at LCCT in KL Our initial plan was to take a weekend off in end July. However, just when we were about to buy the tickets, we realised that Tiger Airways had canc...

I am in need of a holiday already! I've just came back from Shanghai end of May and went back to my hometown in Penang end of June. I am feeling drained from work, and yes, that is also why I haven't been updating my blog as regularly. Due to the mountainous amount of work, I am unable to plan my long holiday to Europe that I was thinking of since early this year. So, unfortunately, short weekend trips from Singapore would be all that I can afford for the rest of this year. I started searching for flights from the various budget airlines that fly from Singapore - Jetstar , Air Asia , Tiger Airways and even SilkAir , which is a cheaper alternative to Singapore Air. So, where can I go that I haven't been before? { Angkor Wat taken during my trip to Siem Reap in 2008 } Weekend getaways that I've been... Cambodia - Siem Reap ( Angkor Wat) One of the most famous archeological and UNESCO site in South East Asia, Angkor Wat is a great place to go for a weekend bre...

Back from a weekend of doing absolutely nothing in Phuket, Thailand! Well, not absolutely nothing but it definitely has a couple of firsts for me - going on a trip with no activities planned, and taking it slow and easy. Usually for my holidays, I would have done all the appropriate research and planned my day-to-day activities from morning till night. However, for our last weekend trip to Phuket, all we did was book the flight, choose the beach we want to be in and book a hotel room. We did not plan our activities - no timetable saying where we will go in the morning, no list of possible lunch places or whether we will take a short day trip to somewhere else, nothing whatsoever. I have to say that it was quite refreshing for a change. We spent the days walking around the town and the beach, lazing around in the hotel room and by the pool, and of course, went for a massage (we're in Thailand!). This was quite different from my normal holidays. I would usually try to make full u...

Feeling quite excited about our two upcoming holidays - a short weekend trip to Phuket, Thailand and a long trip to Japan! Busy planning and preparing for both holidays (well, not so much for Phuket). And, in between it all, I have been trying to write about my holiday in Kangaroo Island, Australia about a year ago! Lots of images of different places are running through my head.  But, for now, it would be this image which I hope I would be able to see when I'm in Tokyo, Japan!   {Image from Wikipedia }

My earliest memory of Melaka, or Malacca as it was spelt in English, was from my history lessons during my school days. According to a legend, Parameswara, a prince from Palembang, was resting under a tree while hunting when he saw a deer push a dog into a river in self-defence. He was so impressed by the courage of the deer and took it as a good sign to create an empire in that area. He decided to name the place "Melaka" after the tree that he was sheltering under. After many (failed) plans of going up to Melaka, we finally put our foot down and decided to drive up there in June 2009. With two cars and together with some of my colleagues, we drove up to Melaka from Singapore for a weekend trip. The plans were, or rather the only plan, was to eat, eat and eat! However, as it would be my first in the city state, I decided that I wanted to do a little sightseeing as well. Melaka was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with my hometown, Penang, in July 2008. Our ...