Since I had a 7 days leave over the Christams I flew back to Hong Kong to get together with friends there, though I fly back to HKG a lot, it’s not that easy to catch up with them during public holidays and they are actually in town…and I also finally met up with a  xangan…..

Luckily there was not snowstorm in Vancouver and my flight arrived HKG on 24DEC night quite on-time thought it took totally 14 hrs in the air…..and I managed to meet up with my friend Alwin for a Christmas Eve buffet dinner at the Jen Hotel around Sai Wan( Western Hong Kong Island) for the food…frnakly not much to talk about, but the Christmas Mood which made up everything…..

On the Christams day  met up with friends for Tea. at the Azure of the Lan Kwai Fong Hotel…a new hotel open recently, and the bar Azure is located on the 29th floor which over looking the busy Central to bad it’s also a very foggy day in HKG been told that the airport was a mess……thank god I arrived a night ahead…

 

after the tea some of us still felt hungry, cos it was the first meal for them as they were partying till the Sun came out…! Therefore we went to the most famous Tsui Wah for a Late Afternoon HK style Tea….

Boxing day Yum Chai lunch with old schoolmates, and turned out to be a ‘camera gathering’ since we all had our plan afterwards, either going for hiking, BBQ or just like me going to the Malls…. and Lumix  GF1 seems to be a hot pick this winter….

 

Then walked around at the Elements Mall, hahah one of my friend said I’m a ‘Elementholic’ and yes Ido like that Mall very much..

And they had this promotional performance of the Musical Chicago as the Australian cast will perfrom the show this May in Hong Kong….

Performing ‘All That Jazz’ and ‘All I Care About’

the 3rd day of Christmas went to have the Cantonese Vegetarian Dim Sum lunch at this 心齋(Pure Veggie House) which was really tasty, at first I thought it might be the MSG effect, but to be frank, I was not that thirsty after the meal…..

I like the Steam rye-rice roll and the house special Hot-Pot rice most…..

On the 4th day of Christmas  first hang aorund at  TST

taking the Star ferry from Central to TST, by-pass the entrance of the Ocean Terminal/Harbout City, then

to the new Heritage 1881

 

Then went back to Central to have tea with CurryPuffy at the cafe/tea house of  Joel Robuchon, though the choices of tea  leaves was not as distinctive as other 5 stars hotels, their dessert was eventually nice

 

Le Chocolat Noisettes – chocolate Hazelnut cake

L’exotique – White chocolate and passion fruit cake

La charlotte aux framboise – Raspberry Charlotte Cake

and I forgot this one….will update on the comment once I could find the answer it’s a savoury dish

and the price was not that expensive, we spent less than HKD200 …and of course CurryPuffy and I had a long long chat…….

Before I went for a Movie(Sherlock Holmes) at Time Square , they were busy setiing up stuff for the countdown on 31DEC

 

 

 

Winter Solstice occurs exactly when the earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26′. which also means the mid of winter….In the Chinese culture family will hold a big dinner gathering.

This year   Winter Solstice Dinner as well as to celebrate my firiend moving to a new job, I choose to have dinner at the Lawry’s Steak House in Hong Kong which was opened in 2006



last preparation of the famous Spinning salad at the table side, actually the sever put the mixed green into the mixing bowl and spin the bowl over the ice and add the salad dressing into the the spinning bowl, then plate the salad and serve right away with a Chilled Fork offered to the guest to enjoy the salad.





Lobster Bisque surprisingly the best dish of the night, the soup  was creamy, full of flavour while the taste of cognac was not over power….



the servers at this HK Lawry’s Steak House are quite young, this young chef who’s preparing our prime rib was a bit underweight……hahahaah



the English Cut….



Yorkshire Budding



and the dessert was the special Christmas Pudding……I think among all my friends, I’m the only one who like those dried fruits and yes I”m ok with it and I only have this pudding only once a year……

Singapore  is my 2nd favourite city , last Nov since I need to transit thru SIN I eventually stop for 4 days on my return sector…mainly visiting my firends there…

Singapore is actually quite expensive, I stayed at this Novotel Hotel at Clark Quay  area, at around HKD1200/rm/night and I remember 4 years ago I paid HKD1000/rm/night at the Ritz Carlton. Once I arrived the hotel lobby , I also discovered that it’s the Crew Hotel of Emirates too….

Actually the room and facilities are quite decent, and reminds us to play safe as well hahahahaha! I just love the common use computer area, they use Apple equipment which looks really cool.

 
 

Frankly  even though I go to SIN quite frequent, I seldom go to Clark Quay area I think the last time I was here around 1995…

Guess they must have done some face-lift with the whole area, and after that had dinner at the China town open-air area.

   

The next day went to the Singapore Flyers ( aka the Singapore Eye) which was opened about a year ago.. at the Marina Bay area

Feeding the fish after the ride, see how hungry they’re
 

on the 3rd  day went to the Sentosa Island, I think this is the place I have visited nearly every time in SIN, since I travel with different buddies each time, that’s why….and luckily ly the place has new attraction nearly on each visit..
This giant Merlion  though not the lastest, I didn’t go in on my visit 2 years ago.

 

see the new developments behind me……there’s where the Universal Studio which due to open in 2010 together with the new Casino by the Venetian Group

And on this trip I totally forgot to drop by the Orchard Road…. oh well I may be back pretty soon though, Singapura see you again soon!

During my last NOV trip I didn’t only fly on SQ Big Whale,  but also flew on her sister airlines SilkAir (MI) a SQ subsidiary flying regional flight, not a LCC cos  MI does has free food and drink on board.

The service from MI is actually nearly 70% the SQ style except those fancy things like the superb IFE system, the on ground hot towel, an after take off drink service, and the you have everything meal tray, however the crew other than their different uniform and a different grooming standard, they can serve you nearly like a SQ girl: the food they serve though very simple is quite adequate for regional short haul flgihts..The only down side is they don’t offer IFE so for the time being  bring your own iPod , mp3 or portable dvd player….

an over cast noon in Brunei

of course you will see more Royal Brunei aircrafts

during boarding

quite a decent leg room

time to eat and drink

they do offer 2 choices of entree on a 1 hr 40 min flight…
The cabin crew said ‘Good Afternoon Gentleman. Would you care for the Chicken in blackbean sauce with Steamed Rice or the Lamb Ragout with mashed potatoes”. NOT “chicken rice or lamb potato’!! ha I just love the way they talk!

after meal coffee…

 

Havn’t been to the Hong Kong Jockey Club House at Happy Valley for a long time, I eventually had a dinner there 2 weeks ago to show my support to my girl friend who had a Belly Dance show there with her tutor and dance mates..

The Dinner show took place a the Charter Ball Room, with the normal cocktail service at the door and dinner eventually started at around 1930.

Frankly after all these years I have never found their food good, just very average, of course if you have friends or relatives who are the members of the club and ask you to go , there is absolutely no harm since they have paid their membership fee anyway.

There were 2 Menu selections for the evening however have to be pre reserved before that evening….therefore no last minute changes…

Prawn, asparagus and red bell pepper terrine or  Tri-colour melons, buffalo mozzarella, mesclun mix and raspberry vinegar dressing

Clear Ox tail soup with smoked tomatos Madeira and thyme or curry cauliflower and roasted cumin soup with home made scallop tortellini

Pan seared chix breast  with pumpkin sauce or Pan fried French red mullet fillets on braised fennel and asparagus compote dil parisienne potatoes and saffron sauce

The 2 main courses were the disappointment of the night….both were dry, and so dry that even worst than the food being reheated in the aircraft……what a pity!!

Passion fruit pavlova with tropical fruit coconut ice cream and Bacardi anglaise or Iced chocolate parfait timbale grand marnier sauce and berries

 

Pralines

The last high-light of my Nov 2009 trip was flying on the A380 Super Jumbo aircraft, and  I chose Singapore Airlines not only because of their superb inflight service, but I could pay less to fly on  the ‘White Whale’ as  SIN/HKG is actully her shortest route so far. The take off was smooth and powerful, the engines were actually very quiet, only the landing in HKG was quite noticeable, cos usually when I was on a B744 upper deck, I could feel nothing on landing, Overall a pleasant  experience..


Their upper deck is divided into their Long Haul Business Class and Economy, however according to my friends working with SQ, they may eventually remove the economy class on the upper deck with all Business seats, depending on the global economy

Boarding the flight and passing through their Long-Haul Business class

On the window seat you can find the side floor compartment just like the one you can find on the B744 upper deck

The extra leg room seats at the emergency door area, well you have to pay to get the seat and you have to be able to speak English and capable to follow the cabin crew instruction to carry out  emergency duties……

The  stair at the back of the aircraft to commute between the upper and main deck economy class, and the view of the main deck

One of the high light  when on holiday trip is enjoying food no exception on this trip in Brunei and Singapore.

While Malay/Indonesian food(Halal -  no pork) is very common in Brunei, I’m also surprised to find out that  the Philippines Jollibee fast food chain is also very popular in Brunei.

I try their Chicken Tocino set….

 

Nasi Padang wz cempedak curry, this dish only the rice is served hot, the rest of the stuff are actually served in room temperature, however since we had this at a mall food court , they ‘re actually Air-conditioned cold….you may ask them to warm it up if you really can’t take cold food….

Sayur Campur – mixed vegetable also being served at air-conditioned temperature

Sup Tulang finally a hot Beef Soup…..since it is order to make…..

  Nasi Goreng Kampung another order to make dish , fried rice with salted fish



When in Singapore I did have even more food which at the end I gained more weight!

At the Food street China Town area:

The Supreme Wonton Noodle, a Lo Mein(Dried noodle) with BBQ pork, Fried Wonton and a wonton soup on the side

Chai tow kway(carrot cake)

char kway teow

Prawn Noodle

My favourite breakfast: soft Boiled eggs with white pepper,  sweet soy sauce and Kaya Toast

Singaporean Laksa, (laksa is a common noodle soup dish within Malaysia and different area has their
own version, e.g in Penang one will be a soup base with turmeric and fish stock…)

another Hawker food centre  at a local residential area

Chwee kway steam rice pudding/cake topped with diced preserved radish and served with chilli sauce

How can we miss the Hainan Chicken Rice

Bak kut teh, a soup with ribs of beef and chinese herbs…..

Halal food just like the one from Brunei

Finally I can edit the pictures onto my blog…..but at my friend’s place, seems like teh PC at my place is not working happily with Xanga…..Well I will try to update my blog as frequently as I can about my trip to Brunei and Singapore with places and food…

Anyway here are some pic to share regarding my trip to Brunei…

It’s such a beautiful country, surrounded the greens and rain forests  just like the  Sabah Malaysia,  and have more influences from the Moslem, therefore once again you cannot find pork meat to eat( to be called Halal food) and you can’t even get a can of beer within the country as alcoholic drinks are not allowed.  Here is the landmark mosque Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque is a royal Islamic mosque,  remember I post the pic of it’s night scence a couple of weeks ago? Now I’m in the pic…heheheh

Right behind it is this Kampung Ayer(village) what a big difference……

 

if you like driving…..you will like it here…..car racing on the freeways

Taking a boat trip around the Kampung Ayer area..

And eventaully saw an accident, 3 houses were burnt, what a pity…..

Tamu( Local  Market)

at the Pantai Jerudong(Jerudong Beach) looking at the South China Sea

Tasik Park at the downtown –  Bandar Seri Begawan

and you find a fall inside the park

Shopping Mall at the Gadong area