EXCITING NEWS! ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO GPSMYCITY

EXCITING NEWS!

In conjunction with GPSMyCity, I have the opportunity to provide 10 of my blog followers a chance to win an annual subscription to its Travel App, a $18.99 value.

CONTEST RULES:

All you have to do to for a chance to win is:

1. Follow my blog
2. Answer the following question in the comment section of this post:  Where do you plan to travel in 2018?

Entries made within 30 days of this post will automatically qualify for a chance to win.

GPSMYCITY:

The GPSMyCity app is designed for people who enjoy exploring cities by foot.  The App offers countless travel articles and self-guided walking tours for over 1,000 cities world wide.

You may ask, “What’s the big deal? I can read the travel post on your blog.”

Well, yes, assuming you have access to the internet, you can read my article on my blog.

But what if you don’t have access to the internet? Or you don’t have a good data plan in country you are visiting?  How do you find those famous sites or the corner pub?

Now, with a yearly subscription (free to ten winning followers), you have access to all kinds of walks around thousands of cities.

Want to explore the untouched island of Sabtang?  There’s an app for that.

Want to see a unique beach formation ? There’s an app for that.

Want to have selfie with a lighthouse?  There’s an app for that.

With a subscription, you can download any travel article with a GPS guided map, and read it offline whenever you like…in the airport, on the plane or on a street corner!

This app is so helpful.   What a time saver and game changer to navigate cities without using data or the internet!  I’ve downloaded several articles written by other bloggers.  Now you can get all of my articles as well as everyone else’s if you win.  What a great deal!

MY ARTICLES THAT ARE AVAILABLE ON GPSMYCITY:

Batanes - Sabtang

Batanes - Paradise 

Batanes - Last Frontier

Shanghai on a 25 Dollar Budget

Feast 66 at Food Capital

For a post Mother's Day celebration, we went for a Saturday lunch buffet at Grand Waterfront Copthorne Hotel.  The Foodcapital buffet restaurant expands to the 3 restaurants (Food Capital, Tempo, Grissini) at the hotel's lobby during weekends.  Guests are welcomed by the contemporary ceiling lights which gives a homey and elegant feeling.

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Char Casual Dining

Located along Jalan Besar, a one way road between Lavender and Farrer Park MRT stations, occupying two levels of a 4 story quaint conservation shophouse owned by The Lee Clan Association, is where you can find the Char Casual Dining Restaurant.

From outside, one will notice a plain glass wall, with scribbles of colored pen.  Inside, a cozy atmosphere welcomes.

Main specialty is their Charsiew, a roast pork belly which have a lovely tenderness, with the crackling crispness of the skin.

Also heard their boneless spare ribs with salted egg yolk sauce is also a must try,

To balance the meal, we had Tou Miaow with dried scallop, as the 3rd dish.

Overall, it was a satisfying meal, and the pricing is quite reasonable.  Spent around 60+ SGD for a table for 4.

Woodlands Train Checkpoint

Ever since living in Singapore, I always took trips via bus from Woodlands bus interchange to Johor Bahru, Malaysia, and all those travel experience were often faced with horrible long queues.

Northernmost Siam

On our second day in Chiang Rai, we had the usual hotel's complimentary breakfast.

Frontier of Three Land

CHIANG RAI – Thailand’s northernmost province captures the spirit of larger-than-life Thais who left their imprint on the land.

Crab Feast at Parkroyal

Get your hands on The Ultimate Crab Feast as Plaza Brasserie's signature crustacean buffet returns with favorites like Chilli Crab, Salted Egg Crab, Black Pepper Crab and White Pepper Crab.

Le Méridien Sentosa Staycation

Le Méridien Singapore, Sentosa invites guests to immerse in carefree island life amid the lush surroundings of Singapore’s offshore playground, Sentosa. Located in the center of Sentosa, staying here is a great base to explore the lively city.

11 - Balinese Special Number

We enjoyed our last day's breakfast at Swiss Belhotel Tuban, before we proceed with the last leg of our itinerary.

Water Palace of Bali

On our second day, we had 2.5 hrs road trip using the east highway, along the coastal towns of: Sanur > Lebih> Goah Lawah (Bat cave) > Amlapura

Along the highway, aside from sea view, you must also look out on the mountain scene, just like this temple on a mountain on the way to Amlapura.

GPSmyCity - Free Travel Guide

Travel blogs are almost often essential in planning budget trips anywhere.  Reading other travelers' experiences and opinions are so organic as it can be.

If you have access to the internet, you could always bookmark the article and go to the website again. But more often than not, we don't want to use up data to access the internet. And you might not even have a cell phone plan for the country you are visiting.  Bringing travel books, or hard copy of articles doesn't help budget travelers to pack light, since paper printouts are more cumbersome and not environment friendly.

Besides, just reading through the article again will remind you of the places you wanted to visit — that well-reviewed restaurant or that popular beach — but you’d still have to stop and look for directions to find it.

Discovering Subak in Bali

This was actually my second trip to Bali, hence while planning for places to visit, I purposely skip Ubud area, since I have been there before.  Surprisingly, those attractions we visited in this trip all does not require to wear a sarong! Hence its quite relaxing and comfortable trip.

  

Weekend Trip to Bali

Our flight from Singapore to Bali on a Saturday evening was via  KLM, the timing was not ideal, but the promo fare was cheaper than other budget airlines, hence we grab this flight; considering its full flight, which includes checked-in luggage and meals on board.  

Big Yes to Big O

Using a Groupon voucher for Big O restaurant in Paragon mall Orchard.  It was bought at 25 Sgd, voucher value of 50 Sgd.

The Serene Lake: Taal

Growing up in Manila it was the closest highland we could spend our weekends, holy-week, vacations, with family and cousins.  Hence, I was excited to re-visit this place after 10 years.

Delicious Ha Noi - Ngon!

Ngon means delicious in Vietnamese. It's also one of the most recommended restaurants for tourists if you want to eat like the locals do.  I saw several restaurants with "Ngon" on its name, hence its difficult to identify which one is the real Ngon!

Healthy Leafy Tasty - Vietnamese Regional Dishes

Regional Vietnamese cuisines are scattered around the city of Ho Chi Minh, so if you have very limited time and still want to have a food adventure, this is the city to explore.  There are abundant choices from northern to southern provinces' specialties, here are some of the meals I have tried:

Bún bò Huế with other dishes

Panoramic Ho Chi Minh

2009 was my first time to visit Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), at that time we visited the usual tourist attractions - Cu Chi tunnel, Mekong River, the historical structures in District 1 - Notre Dame, Post office building, Ben Thanh Market.

Vung Tau a Scenic Coastal Town

Vung Tau city is located in the south of Vietnam, situated at the tip of a small peninsula. It has traditionally been a significant port, particularly during Vietnam's period of French rule.  

Wraps and Rolls in HCMC

Our arrival at HCMC was at night time, hence our first food adventure was dinner.

Day 1 - Dinner 

Pho5Sao, along Hoang Hoa Tham road.