This was a very last minute trip. Mum and I saw the SQ promo prices of $588/pax to Taipei, and in less than 30 minutes, we had our tickets booked for the following week! I was in a dream state for the rest of the day, fastest trip planned ever!

We were there for just 5D4N, but it was sufficient, cos we only had in mind 2 things – catch up with relatives & FOOD, glorious fooooood from all the usual haunts!

We had a 1:30AM flight, so we reached Taoyuan International Airport around 6AM. After that, it was a 1hr+ ride to my aunt’s place in Hsin-Chu. First thing we did was to unload the luggage and head to the noodles store behind her house.

Pork with zha-jiang sauce

Accompanied by zha-jiang noodles

After that, we went to pray to my grandpa & grandma.

And then its off to Cheng-Huang Temple for lunch!

My favourite stall – You-yu geng (Squid Potage)

We ordered 2 other dishes – gong-wan (meatballs), ba-wan.

Desserts @ A-Zong

Pineapple Ice.

Then we crossed the road to visit a shop, it was sad to hear that the old grandma was no longer around. But we saw our old friend… Dan Dan!

Instant noodles heaven..

The next morning, we were off to Taipei and checked into Hotel B at Ba De Road. It was decent, clean and had free Wi-Fi. So that’s good enough for me.

Walked around the area and had pork bun, Lao Tien Lu, and of course, Ya Rou Bian (goose meat w vermicelli).

The next day, I popped over to Lin Dong Fang for beef noodles. Brought my aunt along cos she had never tried it. We queued for a short while before getting seats.

Then it was a cab ride to Chia Te to buy pineapple cakes & wife cakes for gluttons back home. It was packed!! With TOURISTS!

All freshly baked, cos they are snatched off the counters the moment staff place them on display.

After 2 nights there… We took the How-Tai bus back to Hsin-Chu. And here comes more food pics.

I refused to miss out on having my duck noodles. Just talking about it and looking at the photos, I’m having a pregnancy craving, which sucks, cos I can’t have something which is not in Singapore!!

Well, at least THIS, I can still buy from Chinatown. Maybe I should head there tomorrow.

Now… Yan-shu Ji. I could gobble down 2 packs at a go!

Obviously by now, you could be thinking, how can this crazy woman stuff so much food into her tummy and still have place for 2 packs of fried chicken? Yea, I couldn’t, so I did the next best thing, I did takeaway of that plus Tian-Bu-La to bring home and munch in front of the TV.

Along with corn!

I ate as much as I could that day, cos it was the last day in Taiwan and we had a 7:30AM flight to catch the next day – which meant no breakfast!

It was a whirlwind trip of endless eating, but totally enjoyable! If only I could do that now, but no travelling for me for at least 1-2 years with the little one on the way.

Day 5 – 19 Nov 2010

This was kinda our last day in Bali, since our flight the next day was in the early morn.

We had our breakfast before going out to Kuta.

We went to Kuta Beach, Discovery Mall etc. And decided to go back to the villa for another spa treatment. We also had the reception book us a waterfront dinner at Jimbaran Bay.

Salted egg-yolk prawns

Grilled seafood

The restaurant provided complimentary pickup and dropoff from the villa. It’s about 40 minutes drive away. It was a nice meal, but I didn’t enjoy constantly chasing away the flies from our food. Once in a lifetime experience is enough for me.

Not gonna blog about the final day, cos all we did was catch a 9:15am flight back to Singapore. It was hard to leave our newfound paradise. So it’s hardly surprising that we’ve already been back once this year.

Day 4 – 18 Nov 2010

This day started out very slow and leisurely with a swim in the pool and a late breakfast.

After another swim and lazing around somemore, we decided to head out for lunch. We got the villa driver to drop us off (complimentary drop offs!) at SIP along Jalan Raya Seminyak.

My favourite version of French Onion Soup!

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Alaskan King Crab Ravioli

We walked back to the villa (around 45mins away) and shopped at the boutiques along the way. Pricey!! Had another spa treatment before we went for our 2nd highlight of the trip, beachfront dinner at Breeze @ The Samaya.

We had to reserve in advance to get a table by the beachfront.

We had cocktails and pre-dinner snacks before we headed in to our seats.

Pan-seared Duck Breast

Wagyu steak

Satisfying, burp-worthy meal. We really over-pampered ourselves that time.

Day 3 – 17 Nov 2010

Day 3 was a very busy day, we had a very early start as we had rented a driver and car for the day to take us to other parts of Bali. The hubby’s colleague recommended Dewa Marco to us and he was a very nice guy. The car is rather new too.

For breakfast, I had Jap! Picked at the fresh fruits, and ended up requesting for only watermelons the next day, which they very kindly accommodated – a huge bowl of watermelons.

Forgot what the hubby ordered…

We headed to Ubud first and visited the arts market. We suck at bargaining and made a really bad deal with our only buy. NO MORE shopping there for us.

Our really really SUPER DUPER bad buy.. They must have been laughing when we went off.

Then we walked off to Ibu Oka Babi Guling for the first part of our lunch..

Ate this with rice, but they didn’t have enough skin, pity.

Part 2 of our lunch… Marco drove us to Bebek Bengil.

We had Chicken Sate & Crispy Duck, and yes, you are supposed to eat it with the bones.

Busy busy day…. He drove us to Tanah Lot next.

Crossed over to the Holy Spring! Fresh water in the sea! I drank from it. You make a donation of any sum after that.

Piece of advice, don’t wear a skirt there. I struggled with my dress when the winds came in.

We went next to Uluwatu. We had to go earlier and miss the sunset as we had a dinner reservation near our villa.

Don’t stray too far off from the path!

Monkeys were sleepy at that time of the day, so we didn’t face any stealing or hear any tourists screaming.

We got back to the villa and took an hour plus to freshen up for dinner at Metis! This dinner was planned as the highlight of our trip and it didn’t disappoint!

We loved all the courses, especially the Legendary Foie Gras.

Scallops in sea urchin sauce

Soups – Mushroom & French Onion

Main course – steak, not very wow-ed over by it. Preferred the starters.

Marco patiently waited for our meal to end before sending us back to the villa. It was long, but really fulfilling day. Love Metis, just not the prices. hahaha.

Day 2 – 16 Nov 2010

Before turning in every night, we can either go to the reception or call them to order our breakfast for the next day. There were many choices and nothing has been disappointing for the trip. Just tell them what you want and at what time, the next day, they will call you 30 mins before to wake you up, so you can open the door for them to come in, yes our personal chef!

Didn’t know how to appreciate stewed fruits, so I ordered fresh fruits for the next day.

As part of our stay, we had a complimentary half-day shopping tour, where the driver takes us anywhere we want. So we hit the factory outlets in Kuta and even managed to find Flapjaks! I think the driver very shy and paiseh to join us and wanted to stay with the car. But they are all really genuinely nice people! He even recognised us when we went again earlier this year and waved to us when we passed by their villa.

After returning to the villa, we stayed in again for the rest of the day, we just don’t want to leave! We had a in-villa spa massage, which was so good! It also helped that we had a 40% discount off the prices, once again, part of the package!

Another part of the package for the night, a complimentary in-villa BBQ dinner, our own personal chef BBQ-ing food for us. Delicious, and very generous servings.

 

Long overdue post, I know! We had our little honeymoon from 15-20 Nov 2010 and stayed in Seminyak.

Just 2 days before the trip (which was the day before the wedding), I decided there was no point waiting the whole day for a 9pm flight to Bali, since we already changed our 2 night stay in Hyatt to 1 night. So I called up Singapore Airlines to ask if I could switch to an earlier flight. HORRORS, I didn’t notice when I booked the fare online, that my ticket was ‘strictly’ no changes to flight timings. Even after I offered to top up the fare difference, the customer service officer refused to relent over the phone, just repeating over and over again that I have a special price ticket blah blah blah. In the end, I asked if it would help if I went to their Ion office and asked the people there, she just answered, ‘you could try.’ So… I rushed down to Ion and after some talking… talking… they very reluctantly allowed a change with a top up of around $550. The fare top up price was a shock to me, but I figured, ok, its my honeymoon, let’s just pay and enjoy the trip. They did waive the admin fees for me though.

So anyway, on the morning of 15 Nov, we got ourselves to the airport and on to the 9:25am flight. We landed at the Denpasar airport and were picked up by the staff of Ulin Villas. We chose this villa after a lot of research online and checking out tripadvisor reviews, which ranked this place #1. A tad pricey, but worth every buck!

They provided a complimentary mini-bar which was stocked with life-saving cold soft-drinks, beer, water etc. Replenished every day!

At night, their turn-down service included lighting up candles everywhere, along with mosquito incense.

We spent the day lazing around in the villa, enjoying the private pool. Heavenly! We finally ventured out in the evening to check out Ultimo, which was about 3 minutes walk from the villa.

Very yummy bread basket, due to the green glob of garlic butter. We could polish off 2 baskets just because of the butter.

The food was very reasonably priced and tasty.

Its very popular as well, have to go early to avoid queuing. Just blogging about it gives me cravings. Sigh, when will I get to have Ultimo again?

A dragon baby is on the way and is expected to make his or her first appearance end-March 2012.

It’s a pretty exciting time for both the hubby and I. Been MIA for the past 2-3 months cos the first trimester was really very difficult for me. The endless vomitting, fatigue and weakness had me staying in bed most of the time.

Finally, it has started to subside and I’m now in my 14th week of pregnancy. Always very excited when the gynae visit comes along, cos that’s when we get to see how fast the little one is growing.

EXCITING!

After most of the guests have left the ballroom, some of the parents’ friends were still around, along with ours. We just sat around winding down. The hubby got drunk after just 1-2 glasses of wine and walked out of the ballroom talking to himself, we just sat open-mouthed looking at him, before his brothers went to get him back.

There was a massive jam getting out of the hotel, so most of our friends went to hang out in our suite, watching the wedding video and talking nonsense. It took me an hour to get rid of all the hairspray/pins/makeup. Fortunately, Hyatt was nice to give me around 5-6 bottles of conditioner & shampoo. The bed was so comfy that my eyes closed the moment I hit the pillow. (PS: Its no fun to take care of drunk hubby.)

The next day was check-out day, we ordered steak and pizza from the room dining menu, which was so delicious! Then we went to check out and paid around $30,000 via credit card. The hubby then saw a very long queue for the cab (it was pouring outside) and said, ok you settle, I go queue first. I’m like, “huh, hello there’s something called the concierge?” He listened to me, and we got a cab booking and was well on our way in less than 10 mins, with lots of baggage in the boot.

The not so fun part next was packing for Bali. The flight was at 9+ the next morning and nothing was packed! Will blog about it soon. Been so busy lately!

Most brides head up during the 2nd course to change. Prior to the wedding, I had already negotiated with my chief, Guen (matron of honour), to let me enjoy my sharksfin before dragging me up. She said 2 mouths, I managed to stuff in 5-6 mouthfuls before I gave in to her dagger-piercing stares.

My makeup artist was back for the 2nd change. After getting me out of the huge gown, she helped me into my La Femme teal gown which I had bought online.  Then she quickly pulled up my hair and made slight changes to the makeup. Not long after, I eased my feet slowly into my uber-high Steve Madden heels and we were ready.

My mum’s friend, Choo Mi Mi had so kindly asked to host our wedding. We are so lucky to have her, she cracked up the crowd and made it into a memorable wedding!

Yum Seng. Word of advice, check the script carefully before you pass to your emcee. I just happily copied someone’s chinese script, and didn’t realise the 2nd toast was to 三年抱两 (carry 2 in 3 years). Now everyone’s waiting for the 2 babies.

Yes girls, scream your lungs out!

Followed by table photos

Halfway through, I ran up and changed into my last gown, a purple gown from Bluebay. I was down in about 10-15minutes.

And finally, we had time to mingle. It was a memorable wedding. Thanks to everyone who made it possible!

I had wanted to go down earlier to mingle with the guests, but was advised against doing so.

Thinking back, I should have just done what I wanted. During the whole span of dinner, there wasn’t much time to interact with guests at all. There were people I haven’t seen in a very long time and wanted very much to chat a little. Ah wells, little regrets here and there.

Before the first march-in, I had done up a video of our growing-up photos. My dear mother insisted on QC for every photo which had her inside. Fortunately it played off without much trouble.

For marching in, my bridesmaids had helped me to arrange cones of silk rose petals on tables along the aisles. So as we went in, it was to showers of rose petals. It was fun! As a tip, if you want to do the same thing, take my advice and buy petals of different shades of the colour you want, it looks prettier! When I reached my dad, he just took his entire cone and tipped it over my head. -_-” Thanks Dad.

I had engaged Wedding Harmony for our wedding. Too bad we only caught a few songs, would really have liked to hear them sing more!