Ordered On: 28Nov2016 Basic Custard Flavor 210Yenn
*Street Eats recommended by others. The croissant keeps really well and stays crispy even after keeping it over night. Its a cross between puff pasty biscuits you get at Marks and Spencer with a thicker custard filling from bread papa. Will try the chocolate flavored one in future.*
- Public Transportation. Located in Zone 3, there are at least two bus services which gets you to Lonepine at about AUD6 per way. Travel times varies between 35-50mins.
- Uber is much faster at about 20mins travel time. 22AUD per way. Getting Uber to and from destination has no delay. Plus there's free WIFI at Lonepine, so you're covered.
*Barn yard feeding*
*Birds or Prey show*
*Roo meet and greet*
Lonepine's got a good spread of shows to fill up at least half a day. A homely environment,offering visitors a glimpse of Australian wildlife. Check out the program for the day. The lorikeet feeding is the one not to be missed. Timings during our visit were 9.45am and 4pm.
*Stock photo from google*
ABBATip: - Lonepine has Free WIFI throughout the park. - They offer a significant discount for Crew. Regular retail price, AUD36, paid AUD25.20 (Bring your crew ID or a picture of it to qualify)
Wow. If not for the exchange rate at this time (near 1:1), this would be by far the mostexpensive Doughnut had. Each piece at full retail is at 6AUD.
Ordered On: 21Nov2016 Love at First Bite
*Nutella filled, upsized doughnuts. With a pairing like that you can't really go wrong.*
It's nice but not really mind blowingly great. It's probably better to be had there and then when it's warmer.However a single serve is just too large for one to finish. What works for Doughtnut Time is pprobably the variety of creative flavors it carries, but my allegiance is still withKrispy Kreme and their original glaze.
Ordered On: 22Nov2016 Waygu Beef BurgerAUD12 After crew discount *A strong showing for the Waygu burger. The whole package was nice, but Iwouldn't say the waygu aspect was that distinct. It just a nicelygrilled beef patty, dressed with sweet bacon, guacamole, lettuce and cheese.The fries were really nicely fried, served hot and crispy on delivery. There was good aiolito fries ratio. The cracked pepper/salt pack (not pictured) were a nice touch and definitelyadded to the meal.*
With crew discount of 50% and NO Tray charge, it's a bloody good deal if weather or timing do not suit ones needs. I'd personally have this over Madtongsan II.
In all honesty, we had little to no research prior deciding on a mattress. Like many others, we were walk ins at one of Singapore Expo's many home and living exhibitions.
In Singapore, no two shops will carry the exact same mattress type. Prices range from the cheap to the really expensive. Many mattress will try to up-sell their respective plus points like orthopedic, multiple spring, anti-bacterial, etc, etc. All-in-all it boils down to personal budget and the actual feel of the product itself. Take your time to lie down, bounce and feel the actual product.
Nature's Rest mattresses are made to order using Natural rubber. We went for a king sized mattress with 5point back support, which is of varied resistance to match the body part. The mattress model comes with an additional cushioning layer which really adds that level of comfort. (SGD3300 for a king sized mattress at time of expo Promo Price).
As a user with previous back injuries, no longer do I wake up with back aches. We went for a medium soft firmness and the mattress itself doesn't trap heat. Thus far we are pleased with nature's rest mattress but will see if it's still be just as good over the years. This post will be updated in due course.
Located at Seletar Mall, this was my first time at this shop to making a new set of prescription Sun Glasses. Havingbeen through several pairs of glasses over the years, Eyecare Studio wasequipped to manage my requirements.
Price pointfor prescription sun glasses they were about 20% cheaper than their competitors. Most shops retailed from 150-160SGD for the sunshades, whereas here it started of at SGD$120, with an additional SGD$10 for gradient shade.
At SGD120 for prescription sunglasses lenses, it comes with choice of color and degree of darkness up to 80%. Seen above is 80% and the standard grey lenses.
Shye Jun who managed the initial salewas knowledgeable and helped explain that excessive curvature in the lens may result in peripheral image distortion. Flatter sunglasses frames, the lens may go cheap as SGD50 as quoted by others. He further had tools I'd never encountered at other Optical shops to measure focal length to get the right details in making a proper pair of sunglasses. The sunglasses were sent in on Friday afternoon and within four days ready for collection!
Thus far its worked out great and the resilience of the glass is holding. Will update over time on the quality and make with this pair or future pairs being made.
Day1 Arrival Hanoi Old Quater (visited on multiple days)
Click here for ABBA Map of ground work for Eats and To Do while in Hanoi An assortment of goods being sold. These range from outdoor wears, replica paintings,propaganda posters, souvenirs and much much more. Competition is plenty so if theshop can't give you a price you are asking, just mosey on to the next one. USD andVND are accepted here.
*Street performer atQuảng trường Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục*
Here are some of the indicative prices in Old Hanoi. Civet cat coffee goes for about1.8mil-1.4/kg (110Sgd/kg) reportedly many fakes out there, North Face Windbreakers and ski wear about20USD-200USD, and replica art pieces 20USD and up pending size and complexity.
When night falls, the streets really come alive with the street lighting. A picturesque sight and a joy to walk through, exploring the various alleyways.
Dinh Tien Hoang Area
(Traditional games On the weekend)
This was a really fun, inclusive experience. Participation came from both locals and tourist of all ages.
If one can plan to arrive on the weekend, the street of Hang Dao is blocked off to cars.That doesn't mean scooters are excluded as they squirrel their way though the busystreet. Street vendors open up shop along this long stretch of road, which leads all the way to Dong Xuan Market. I wouldn't call the products they have for sale as must buy shopping but they are definitely priced competitively. The goods sold do get repetitive after awhile, but the blocked off street does add to the festivities of the evening.Click here for ABBA Map of ground work for Eats and To Do while in Hanoi
------------------------------------------- Day2 Hoa Lo Prison 30,000VND SGD1.85
A pretty good spot to visit this historical site which was once a French colonial prison.Lots of write-ups in English with some videos to give you a small snapshot of theirhistory.
A uniquely Hanoi Experience. Unlike their Bangkok counterpart which has a trainrunning through a wet market, this largely residential district has two trains running twicedaily.
Online reports state crossings are in the afternoon and night, stating 4pm and 7pm.From various Internet sources these are the rough timings, we were there from 3pm to catch thecrossing of the train track at 3.20-3.30pm.
There's really little clearance on the track itself as with a quick toot from the train it barrels on through. Be quick to get to your safe position! Worth the time outto check out this daily occurrence for the local residence.Click here for ABBA Map of ground work for Eats and To Do while in Hanoi
Water Puppet Theatre 8pm show 100,000d SGD6.1484 per pax.
The world famous Thang Long Water Puppet Theatrevin Hanoi has its roots in an artform that dates back to the 11th century.
Each show runs at multiple time slots for an hour and requires to be purchased inadvance as they sell out quite fast. We purchased tickets at 3pm a day before for the8pm show the following day.
Day3/4 Ha Long Bay Tour - UNESCO World Heritage Site 2Day1Night Tour on the Viet Beauty Boat 135USD/pax regular retail price 175USD The cruises range from 60USD all the way to 200USD. There are tons of tours tochoose from. We however went with Vietnam Beauty Cruise based purely onavailability and from MK Hotel's recommendation.*Stop point for some shopping and light eats. Lots of crafts and silk screen prints for print.* Bus ride is approximately 3.5hrs long to reach with a single rest stop in between for theusual shopping and snack eats. Viet Beauty Boat Program for 2D1N
Check-in Lunch *Forgettable and underwhelming.* Kayaking and Swimming (1.5hrs)
This was pretty okay. In my mind I'd thought some leaping of the boat action in asecluded part of the bay, but as it turns out its to a relatively controlled. We werebrought to a remote section shared by other tour agencies where one gets to enjoybeach side beer, take a short scenic kayaking trip and enjoy the waters.
Towels are provided by the respective cruises and staff are there to watch your items. ABBATip: - Bring water proofing for camera for photo taking.
1830hrs Food making
*A novelty. It shouldn't be called a cooking class. It's more like a make your ownappetizer class.* 1900hrs Dinner After dinner squid fishing *Though its a listed activity, the season for it is only in March and April. Our tour guide said he could catch 2kg worth in an hour. Squid would have been cooked on site for* guests to enjoy. Second Day Of Ha Long Bay Cruise Breakfast 0645hrs Surprising Cave 0730hrs
*Your basic lime stone cave. Pretty good sized and a bit of an exercise to get to the top. If you've never been to a lime stone cave before, it'll definitely be the introductory experience.* Pearl Oyster Farm 0930hrs
*Quite interesting, but none the less just another activity to fill up the day. The Pearl Oyster Farm had potential to be more exciting with perhaps BBQ eats. Lunch on board 1045hrs
Return to Hanoi
The tour itself is casual and a little underwhelming. It's nice to be out on the waters andenjoy the natural surroundings. The rooms are decent and sufficient for a night stay. Ican't say the same for the food, but it's more of the novelty to be dining in the Ha LongBay, a unesco world heritage site and partaking in random activities. If the squid were inseason, it'd be better. (March-April).
If they sell you the routes that the boats go are more exclusive, after a while thelandscape becomes the same, so it really doesn't make a difference. ABBATip: - Maybe overcharged. Try the multiple tour agencies out there and you may get a better deal? This really is in doubt. All of their tours start at a basic run about 60USD for a two night stay and 30USDfor a single day trip. Yet to be reviewed or verified what standings they are like though. Concierge was sharing that those back packer type cruises are mostly drink binges and tour operators have little to no idea of what is going on. - The differences between the cruises lay in the boat, slight difference in their activities and the food.
- The tour can arrange for mid transport transfer to Cab and get you straight to the airport. A number of back packers took that option to go straight to the airport.
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