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My Japanese ryokan hopping adventure 2018-2019 – 7 Ryokans in 3 months

It's been a whirlwind 2019 and I do apologise to my readers for the long radio silence. It's been a mad year of renovating and moving house which can be terribly intense. I am back in action again! Many of my fans often ask me what I look for or...

Cusco and Sacred Valley Travel

In my final post on my amazing trip to Peru last year with R & Y, I will delve into the best sights to visit while in Cusco and Sacred Valley. These 2 destinations are a natural place to stop by if you are going to Machu Picchu. We chose...

Machu Picchu Travel

The highlight of our my big Peru trip with Y and R was definitely visiting Machu Picchu, one of the seven wonders of the world. Yeah, I made it to one of them finally! In researching for this leg of the trip, I did consider if we should do the intense...

Best of Bolivia – the must sees in Bolivia for first timers

In my follow up post from last year's feature on my top few wanderlust locations - the Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia, I find it an absolute must to let you all know the Best of Bolivia if you are visiting this exotic country for the first time, given it's not...

Megeve Ski

Finally after years of wanting to go Megeve, we finally did it this year! It has always been on my hit list after reading so much about this charming and chic ski town in France, close to the Montblanc. This place is definitely laden with old money and best described...

30 Hours in Shirakawa and Takayama

My 2016 was completed with a fun winter trip to the region of Shirakawa and Takayama in the Hida region of the Gifu Prefecture for some sightseeing and a ryokan stay, followed by a ski trip to Hakuba with Y and R. Given how full flights were to Tokyo when...

Akureyri Iceland – Amazing sights from Game of Thrones

Our exciting Nordic trip ends off in Iceland, and after arriving in Reyjavik (promise I will touch on this city in a later post), we started our 'mystical' journey through Iceland starting with a full day visit to Northern Iceland in Akureyri. It sounds almost silly to say this, but...

Visit to the amazing Leaning Tower of Pisa

My first visit to Florence in April would not be complete without a visit to Pisa given its close proximity (only an hour's ride via the Trenitalia from Firenze Santa Maria Novella station in Florence to Pisa Centrale - see here to book). It was just Y and myself for this last...

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda

Just in late September this year, Y decided to head to Chengdu with R and me to celebrate her birthday and also more importantly to check out this city known for my favourite black and white Pandas. R's parents also came along given they had once stayed in this country...

One Fine Stay home in Los Angeles

It's been a while since 2012 when I went to Los Angeles with Y, which was with her girlie bunch attending her good friend KK's hen's trip there. Fast forward 3 years later, we are here again in this sunny city which has great weather all year round and although...

Chateau La Coste

Our last day in Aix En Provence, was chock full of activities. After a quick shopping spree at the morning markets in Aix En Provence (see post), and a wonderful lunch at La Petite Maison, we had to make a quick dash to this amazing modern winery - Chateau La Coste...

Sunflowers in Provence

Very often when one googles for flowers in summer in Provence, images of lavender and sunflower fields fill the pages. So it's only natural to any non-local including myself that sunflowers are just springing up anywhere in Provence in the peak of summer. So here's the reality check, for sure lavender fields aren't everywhere, and...

Day trip to Cassis

On our first day arriving into Aix En Provence, we were planning to just take it easy and walk around the town square. But yes there's always the unexpected that pops up in driving trips. Our concierge from Hotel Le Pigonnet was sharing with us places to go near Aix...

Stay in Aix En Provence

For the last leg of our Provence trip, we decided to stay in Aix En Provence, given that we might need to have some 'city life' after a few days of countryside and small towns. And it's convenient to depart from here back to Paris via the TGV. I acknowledge we didn't...

Lavender in Gordes

Gordes, part of the Luberion region, has been helmed in many tourist websites on Provence as one of the most beautiful villages of France, and after coming here, I can understand why. Gordes has also been mentioned in Peter Mayle's best selling, famous book - A Year in Provence, which am...

Carrières de Lumières – breathtaking!

When you visit Provence, it is an absolute must to come to Les Baux Des Provence (a 20 minutes drive from St Remy) to visit the Carrieres De Lumieres here and also the Chateau which sits on the former old town of Baux. Sometimes good things come out of bad experiences,...

St Remy Provence shopping and sights

The second stop in our Provence virgin trip was St Remy. This town is picturesque with its tree lined streets and has a great selection of art galleries, gourmet shops and museums, spread throughout the main boulevard and the tiny streets. I love especially the mixture of pastel and bright coloured windows that accent...

Zermatt skiing

Zermatt skiing is very popular with many given it's the highest resort, with sure guaranteed snow, and one of the few or only places in the world where you can even do summer skiing! Even when we were there, and the whole of Europe barely snowed for the month of December, Zermatt...

Vevey Switzerland in December

My first trip with Y and R to Switzerland in December last year started with a driving trip through small quaint towns of Vevey, Montreaux, Monthey before rounding up with my annual ski trip in Zermatt with Y's buddies. Although taking the efficient Swiss train seemed the most logical and...

Cheli and Peacock Safaris

Earlier this year, our friend JC started a group chat with Y's bunch of friends - one of her fun traveling buddy groups that have taken me with her a few times to Bali and last year to Maldives. The topic header being "Safari trip"? It finally ended up with...

A Holiday guide to Cornwall

MC and us decided to do a midweek short holiday to Cornwall from London when looking at options around. It's known to be a very popular choice of destination for local Brits who often go there for a seaside holiday or a summer vacation. Located in the most south west...

Going green and blue slopes in Val D’Isere

After travelling for close to 5 hours from Geneva International Airport, we got to Val D'Isere town around 7.30 pm and quickly dashed to the Pro Shop at the posh and discreet Le Barmes De L'Ours Hotel to rent our ski equipment, as recommended by Val, one of our ski instructors for...

Luxe ski holiday in Val D’Isere!

After Y and my first ski trip to Niseko in early Feb last year, we decided to go on a ski trip with R and bunch of fun loving friends to Europe just before Christmas. The question was where in Europe? First, we had to get all the headcount confirmed...

Discovering Taiwan for the first time

Continuing from my earlier post on discovering Taiwan, here's the itinerary which I think be useful for 1st timers plus Mr Hung's contact at the end of post if you wanna hire him to bring you around Taiwan. Please bear with this rather long post, as I rather not break...

Best Tokyo Food Halls

Enjoying a breakfast scone with clotted cream in our hotel The food halls in Japan are really in a league of their own. I always make it a point to visit them when I am in any of the big cities and to me the best Tokyo food halls are...

Japanese beef restaurants in Tokyo

After my trip to Izu with Y and LY, we drove back to Tokyo on the 2nd October, and stayed there for 3 nights. It was jam packed with shopping and of course eating, trying to just squeeze in lunch and dinner and possibly tea as and when we could...

Izu Eats

Continuing from my earlier post on Izu - Day 1, on our second day, we decided to drive towards the local food street near Atami Sekitei, where there was a supermarket and other small goods stores. It was such a horrid weather, was just raining the whole day, made it...