Tips on getting down on Wedding

After 8 years down the journey, my Mr Right proposed at Huka Falls to me.

In the 9th year, we are tying the knots and settling down on our wedding ceremony.

There are so much to consider and we both know we started a little late.

To all couples out there, I created a list of things to consider/plan for your wedding, hoping that this would help you along the way.

• Setting your ROM date and Wedding date

Some people may do it on the same date but some may prefer to have their ROM date as their special day, while the wedding date just needs to fall on the weekend. I do the latter as my anniversary happens to be on a weekday and we want it to be special.

• Registering your ROM date

• Confirming the wedding date with your families

• Set a rough budget for each of the expenses, E.g. Engagement Photography $3k, Banquet Dinner $20k.

This would really help you while you are sourcing for vendors. It can be quite frustrating in the process, like Oh no, I like this but it's over my budget. So both of you need to ask each other, are you willing to up the budget, or find another one. If it's not over by too much, I would say you can consider.

• Find out which venue would suit your style and what would you like to see in the venue

Well, wedding is never easy. Myself too. I thought I should keep it as simple as possible. But ideas keep pouring into my mind. You can only do this once in your lifetime! (I mean we all say this to ourselves and hopefully this stays through :)

At first, I really like Crowne Plaza Changi Airport because of the pillar-less and tall ceiling feel. It feels very modern and high. It doesn't have anything jutting out of the ceiling like a chandelier. So we explore the idea, I did send e-mail to them enquiring about their wedding show, but no reply came. We went on exploring for others. Till, we found one that blow our mind away and that's the one! I shall not reveal it yet but I promise to post some photos till the day comes :)

• List down your invitees and number of invitation cards required

This is really important as you need this to find a venue. Some venues accept a minimum number of guests. So you need a rough estimate of guests you would have. Not to forget, you have to include your VIP table as well.

I learn something about invitation card. I have an elder sister who is married, so I thought I don't have to send a card to her since she's my immediate family. But, no! You have to send ONE to her as she is considered married off to her husband, so you have to address the card to her husband and his family/wife. So this applies to all who are married, whether you are the brother/sister.

• If your venue does not provide dinner, you would have to source for wedding caterer. (Like me!)

If you are not picking a hotel or restaurant which provides dinner, you have to out-source to wedding caterers. There are a few out there. If you are a muslim, no worries, you have Orange Clove Wedding and Rasel Catering.

• Engagement Photography

This should be done at least 3-4 months before your Wedding date if you want to show people. It is also called Pre-wedding Photography in Singapore. There are a few ways to do this. You can either hire a photographer and a make-up artist (MUA) yourself and rent a few gowns and suits, do the shoot locally or your preferred overseas destination. Or you can look for a bridal shop which has all the services.

There are Pros and Cons here and there. We went back and forth on this. And we settled on bridal shop. Simply because of the cost, package and album design. I'm not asking you to do the same as me as everyone has their own preferences. We like how the album from the bridal shop looks and the range of gowns to choose from. But bridal shop gives you limited number of images to print, whereas if you have your own photographer, you probably get back all soft copies and have 40~50 photos to print in the album.

• Look for ideas of your ideal wedding gown before you rent or purchase one

Everyone would have their own likes and dislikes and what suits them. There are many different type of designs/material.
Material: Do you want satin or chiffon?
Length/train: Do you want it short or long or very long?
Design of the top: Do you want gown with sleeve/sleeveless/halter neck/small sleeve/straight tube across the chest/scallop at the chest area?
Design of the bottom: Short Dress/Long Dress/Ball Gown/Mermaid etc.

• Decide your photos style

Do you want the classic indoor studio? Or fun, outgoing? Or romantic? With lots of props? With lots of background?

Communicate with your photographer before your photoshoot to let him have a better understanding of you. We made the effort to make an appointment to meet our photographer. My partner doesn't like solo shoots as he feels it's boring. He likes it fun and natural while I likes it romantic. Our photographer took note of these and he took great care of it.

• Decide your photoshoot venue

Do your research if you really want your photos to turn out the way you want. Your photographer may suggest a few places to you but you have to love it. We made the effort of listing down the venues we like and we communicated with the photographer. He made some comments and it helped. Some places need permission to take photo while some have charges.


I hope the tips above would help all brides and bridegrooms. This is not all... We have a Part-Two. When you are done with the above, go on to Part-Two.

New Zealand

It has been 7 months since my partner and I traveled to South Island, New Zealand. If you had read my blog before, we actually traveled to North Island, New Zealand in 2014. I love New Zealand and would always want to go there again and again. It has been the top place of all the destinations I have been to for many reasons.

 1) The people

 I think this point makes a lot of difference to your travel experience. The Kiwis are friendly, helpful and easy to talk to. They chat with you like you are one of their own. They talk to you like you have been their friend for a long time. They are very helpful, always helping you even though you are not buying anything from them.

I have been to most of Asia countries and some Southeast Asian countries. The Taiwanese, Japanese and Thais are the next top nicest people I have met. Always carrying a smile. It makes your travel comfortable and relaxed. Can you imagine people frowning or pulling long face at you while you are traveling? Ah ha...

2) Scenery

New Zealand is very protective of their own lands and they cherish their environment very much. No pollution, recycling bins placed in crowded areas. If you travel out of the cities, you probably would hardly see a bin (you don't see much litter around as they expect you to bring the trash out with you).

What awes you the most is the beautiful scenery that New Zealand provide you. The mountains, the waters, the sky. It is amazing in such a island. Every night we stare at the starry sky, looking for the Southern star. Every morning we wake up looking at the brilliant sky and sometimes rainbows (I have seen the most rainbows in my life in New Zealand). Every time you look at the waters, you would wonder what gives it the colour, what makes it so clear.

3) Adventure

It is 2 islands of adventure. Bungee jumping originates from New Zealand. You can do sky diving at most of the cities. River jets and river rafting is a MUST-DO. Skyline and luge originates from New Zealand as well, we love it! Lord of the Rings and Hobbiton took the scenes in New Zealand and you would know why they chose NZ if you are there yourself. Visit the vineyards, strawberries farm, sheep farms.

4) Animals

There are many native animals in New Zealand. There are also many animals that are not native. You learn the story of the animals. I visited like 3 to 4 zoos/bird sanctuaries in the North Island, just to look at Kiwis especially. Of course I love looking at Kaka, Toutouwai, Kea, Pukeko etc. We went around South Island looking at Kea, penguins, seals, whales, albatross etc.

It's a place I will never forget and never regret going in my life.

If you are planning to go New Zealand, take down the pointers below:

1) Airline

• Which airline are you taking? 
• Where do you want to go? 
• North or South Island? 
• Which airport? There are a few airports. In the north, you have Auckland and Wellington. In the South, you have Christchurch and Queenstown.

2) Transport

• How are you going around the island?
• Are you a backpacker or going with family or your partner?
• Do you want to go by local bus/scenic train/tour coach/car/campervan?
• If by car or campervan, which company would you go for? Which one is near the airport? (Usually they do airport transfer if they are located near the airport)
• Be sure to read the road safety and rules if you are driving. NZ drives on the left.
• Some places do not have free parking, do your research well.

3) Accommodation

• If you are staying in a self-contain campervan, you already have a bed. Go anywhere, sleep anywhere.
• If not, next option: Hotel
• Hostel
• Airbnb (It's like a home stay, you stay with the Kiwis at their homes)
• Holiday Park (if you do not have a self-contain campervan, you need somewhere to sleep or charge your campervan)

4) Where to go

• New Zealand is a big place. You have to take into consideration driving hours. This almost killed our itinerary the last trip as the driving hours are long going from place to place.
• List down the places you are looking at, then draw up the driving route, then plan where to stay or eat.

5) Clothing

• Always check up the season that you are going
• New Zealand is in the Southern Hemisphere, so it's the opposite of the North. Winter starts in June. December/January is the peak summer season.
• Maximum temperature is at 25 Degree Celsius so do pick your clothing appropriately.

I hope I have covered enough. I would try to post our New Zealand routes soon. Do visit us often :)

Travelling in 2016

Hi everyone

It's been a long time since I last blogged. Here to share the 2016 calendar year PUBLIC HOLIDAYS!

When should you plan for a holiday?

Ideally if you want to spend lesser on airfare, choose a low peak season, meaning avoiding high traffic travel season like school holidays and public holidays (especially public holidays that come along with long weekends). However, not everyone can do that if they have to travel with kids or work Mondays to Fridays.

So I hope the below guide will help you in planning your holiday this year. Here we go!

New Year’s Day	1 Jan 2016	Friday
Chinese New Year	8 Feb 2016 9 Feb 2016	Monday Tuesday
Good Friday	25 Mar 2016	Friday
Labour Day	1 May 2016*	Sunday
Vesak Day	21 May 2016	Saturday
Hari Raya Puasa	6 July 2016	Wednesday
National Day	9 Aug 2016	Tuesday
Hari Raya Haji	12 Sep 2016	Monday
Deepavali	29 Oct 2016	Saturday
Christmas Day	25 Dec 2016*	Sunday

*Following Monday would be a holiday.
**above taken from MOM website.

So you have longer weekends to travel during Chinese New Year, Good Friday, Labour Day, Hari Raya Haji and Christmas Day.

Personally I would not recommend to travel during Chinese New Year as it would be freaky crowded everywhere when the Chinese comes out of their country and go to everywhere in the world. From my own experience, I went on a cruise few years back during the Chinese New Year period. I remembered it was not like the first or second day of Chinese New Year but the entire cruise was filled with 95% Mainland Chinese. I am not trying to offend the Chinese here, but some could be quite rowdy. I almost fell a few times as they were pushing everyone to get their way through.

You can pretty much consider the following dates:

• 25th March (Fri) to 27th March (Sun) 
• 30th April (Sat) to 2nd May (Mon) 
• 10th Sep (Sat) to 12th Sep (Mon)
• 24th Dec (Sat) to 26th Dec (Mon)

Well, of course, the above dates are dates that if you only work Mondays to Fridays and you do not have to take any annual leave from work. If you want to go on a 4-day/3-night trip, go on and extend a day, you can go on Thursday to Sunday or Friday to Monday. 

Have a happy holiday!!

Hotel Bonaparte By Rhombus Hong Kong

I just came back from Hong Kong and stayed at Hotel Bonaparte by Rhombus. They gave me the lowest priced standard room that comes with 2 single beds.

The room is very small. There is only one walkway, only big enough for one person to walk through. The luggage rack is so small that my luggage could not fit in. Fortunately, I am the only one staying in the room so I could put the luggage on the other bed. The other thing is the wash basin is outside of the bathroom. The bathroom consists of the w.c. and shower together in one compartment so there's no space to squeeze the wash basin in. Lastly, there is no cup for coffee or tea which is disappointing though the hotel provides kettle.
The good thing is the hotel key card is already there in the room so the air-con runs on 24 hours as long as you don't switch off. It's very welcoming to go back to the room as the outside is hot and the room is cool. There was free WIFI accompanied with the booking and the internet speed is fast.

 So let's see the room.

This is what you see right after you enter.

There is a roller blind behind the beds as the room is facing the main road.

This is the only table in the room, very miniature. No hand soap provided but they do provide shower gel and shampoo.

The tv is only good for the person sleeping right in front of it as it is not rotatable.

There is a sliding door for the bathroom. But, there is no rack for your shower stuff so I put them on the cover of the w.c.

I don't like the toilet roll to be behind the w.c. Inconvenient.

This is what I see from my room.

I told you it's the main road!

Overall, the room is clean and neat, just small and lack of some things. The location is great, it's just 5 mins walk from Times Square which sits right above the Causeway Bay MTR. There's 7-Eleven everywhere, eateries round every corner. I love the handmade fishball noodles which cost HKD30 now. 

In Hong Kong, there's not much setback from the road to the building. You got to be careful while walking along the streets as you don't know when the condensing water would drip down from the air-con condenser unit right above your head!

Club 21 Sale at the Pit Building

Club 21 Sale is here in Singapore again!

On 23rd Oct, it will be opened to Club 21 members ONLY from 10 am to 8 pm.
Also on 23rd Oct, Citibank members will get to go to the preview sale as well from 1 pm to 8 pm.

Citibank rewards card members will also enjoy 10X Points charged to their cards AND win $500 club 21 vouchers when you charge to your Citibank credit/debit/ready credit card.

For public, go on the Friday 24th Oct (10 am to 8 pm) or Saturday (10 am to 8 pm) or the last day on Sunday (10 am to 6 pm).

It will be at the Pit Building (next to the Singapore Flyer, nearest MRT is Promenade MRT.

You will get to shop for your favourite brands like Alexander McQueen, Alexander Wang, Calvin Klein, DNKY, Donna Karan, Lavin, Nina Ricci, Paul Smith, Victoria Beckham, etc.

I had bought DNKY jeans at $40, Marc Jacobs black pants at $60 from the previous sales. Do head down early, preferably before lunch hour to avoid the crowd :)

Montigo Resorts, Nongsapura Batam

This is my little review of Montigo Resorts @ Nongsapura Batam.

It was a very short ride from Nongsapura ferry terminal to Montigo Resorts, about 5 to 10 mins. They have a mini bus, just look out a guy who is dressed in biege (that's their uniform and it says Montigo Resorts). Upon reaching the resort, I was served with a cold towel and a refreshment drink. The drink is good!

There are 3 types of hilltop villas, hillside and beachfront villas (each on a different level). The internal layout of the villa is the same, only the view to the outside is different. I was given a hillside villa, which is the nearest to the reception lobby.

This is the view from the reception lobby. The left side is Phase 2, which is currently under construction. The right side is where the beautiful villas are.

There are 3 rows of villas. The bottom left is beachfront villas, middle is hillside, and the right most (which I didn't capture much) is hilltop.

To get around, you can either walk or take a buggy.

On the ground floor, there is a powder room, living area with kitchen and a outdoor dining with a wide dip pool.

On the second floor, there is this BIG master bedroom and bathroom.

Panorama view of the huge bathroom: 2 wash basins on the left, bathtub in the center, shower room and a room with w.c. on the right

I didn't take photo of the other bedroom. It's pretty small, consisting of 2 single beds and a bathroom which is meant for single use. A wash basin, a shower room and a w.c.

On the top level, there is this outdoor terrace for relax and bbq.

This is the view from the terrace. The opposite side is the Batam Central, where the bustling town is.

Next morning, we have our complimentary breakfast here below. This is the other end from the reception lobby, where the clubhouse is. You have the gym, swimming pool, bar, event lawn and a multi-function beach here.

Souvenir/Convenience shop. The penguin in blue and white is the Resort's mascot. You can find some snacks, ice-cream, toiletries, instant cup noodles etc here.

On the same level as the souvenir shop, this side has the gym and meeting rooms on the right side, reflective pond in the center and event lawn on the left.

A small event lawn.

One level down, we have the swimming pool, pretty cabanas and bar which has a billiard table.

After all the happening here, you can wait for the buggy here.

Love the rooms and people here. It's clean, service people are very polite and helpful. They always bring a smile with them. Would definitely bring my family here next time. Cheers!

New Zealand Preparations

In June, we made a trip to New Zealand. There were a lot of preparations before making our 2 weeks journey there.

Before our travel, we would always do our work with the 5 considerations below:
1) Flight
2) Accommodation
3) Mode of transport
4) Destinations
5) Food

There is no fast and fuss rules to which you should consider first. For us, we love to consider the destinations like the attractions or places you want to visit. That will probably determine your whole itinerary. Looking at the number of destinations, you will know how many days you need there, that's where you can decide the flight. The other 3 are probably your last consideration after you have settled your itinerary.

If you are adventurous and not restricted, you might want to consider renting a car or campervan in New Zealand. If you are staying only in the Auckland city, a car would probably do the work as it will be a problem parking the campervan in the city area. If you are travelling out of Auckland city, the campervan may do an excellent job for your holiday.

We took up a car for the first few days of our travel in Auckland and switched to a campervan to travel southwards. We looked up on the Internet for reviews and decided to go for GoRental and Wilderness. Use this to plan your itinerary :)

Both companies will pick you up to and from Auckland Airport. At the Auckland Airport, there is a counter for tourist information. Just tell the lady you would like to call this particular company, they will let you know the extension number to reach them. It's easy there, trust me.

This is our compact blue car that comes with a bordered pink car plate that says 'Go Rental'.

This is our 2-berth campervan from Wilderness, very user-friendly. Stayed perfect with us throughout, didn't give us much problem. We eat-cook-bathe-do our business all inside this little portable home.