Wantunn mee

S5 on S1, originally uploaded by wantunn.

Picture of my new Canon Powershot S5IS taken with my Canon Powershot S1IS

Ans: When he wakes up at 4am for his feed and after that, while his mum is burping him, he crawls over, lies down on you and nods off to sleep there.

Villa – Bedroom, originally uploaded by wantunn.

So this was the first time we had ever tried staying at a villa and it was definitely a refreshing change. We stayed at the Royal Pita Maha which was promotion via Planet Fitness (and UOB as well I think).

Right from the start, we could tell it would be different when the pickup at the airport escorted us to the vehicle and offered us ice cold towels and drinks (apparently he had a cooler box in the back of the mini van). In fact, all the staff we encountered here were excellent and friendly and this includes every bellboy, waiter, gardener etc.

On arrival at the villa, we were seated at the 3rd floor restaurant for our welcome drinks before being led to our villa. At this point, I was wondering what happened to check-in but it was all prepared in advance and all I needed to do was to sign the registration slips once we reached the villa.

Incidentally, our villa was situated halfway down the valley (the river we white water rafted on previously runs through the bottom of the valley). This made it fantastic in terms of privacy but going to the restaurants can be a pain (literally) due to the number of stairs. Definitely not recommended for those with problem climbing stairs. Alternatively, you can chose to take your meals in the villa which we opted for dinner and it’s pretty amazing how they can bring everything down to the villa in one piece.

The villa itself was pretty nice, totally glass fronted with 3 rooms, bedroom, living room and toilet/bath and an infinity pool in front. The only problem we had was that the water in the pool seemed to be perpetually cold, probably a by product of being situated in the valley.

All in all, our stay here was enjoyable and I would definitely return for another visit if possible.

For more photos, jump over to http://www.flickr.com/photos/wantunn/tags/royalpitamaha/

Had a great holiday in Bali, especially at the Royal Pita Maha where we stayed 2 nights in a villa.
Definitely something to try again.

I am so looking forward to finally relaxing for a few days.
Bali, here I come.

Restaurant, not hair removal technique.
Anyway, went down on Sunday for lunch at this new place, Rio Brazilian Restaurant, around the Queensway (or was it QueensTown?) area after seeing the write up in the new paper. They were having 1-for-1 offers and hey, who doesn’t like 1-for-1s right?
Anyway, made our way there at noon (it’s next to a remand centre) and were promptly seated. The place looks pretty quaint and new, decor etc looked ok. There were 2 seating areas, basically indoors and outdoors and we were seated at the indoor area. However, the air-conditioning was somewhat lacking and it got progressively hotter as the mean progressed.
The salad bar was pretty standard stuff, but the biggest complaint would have been the actual main courses. The complaint? The staff basically started serving from the same table every time. For those of you who have gone to Brazilian restaurants will know that they serve you the meat on skewers that they bring to your table and basically carve up on the spot. Since we were physically the furthest possible point from the kitchen, the staff didn’t get around to our table like 75% of the time. At the end of 2 hours, we basically gave up (the kids were getting grouchy) and headed off.
I think a lot boils down to the fact that the staff seemed to be still working out the kinks in their operation. Plates were dropped with alarming frequency (at least 4-5 times while we were there), the servers weren’t really good at the carving (dropped fish on my brother in law’s pants) and of course what was mentioned in the previous paragraph as well.
Lessons learned:
1. Not going back there again, unless I’m not paying.
2. That’s the last time I take recommendations from the new paper.

I’m meeting some friends at a coffee house and everyone has ordered something nice except for me. For some odd reason, I haven’t ordered anything and the sight of the food makes me drool. But no matter how I wipe, I can’t seem to get my face clean and thats when I wake up and realise I’ve been drooling in my sleep again.

water, originally uploaded by wantunn.

Taken in the pool while taking my kids swimming today.
A reflection of the top of the water from the bottom.

I recently started reading Fables , a comic book series by Vertigo and I’m hooked.
This is what I would best describe as Shrek for adults.
I’ve reached volume 3 and so far, the basic storyline is that someone (the Adversary) has conquered all the lands of the Fables (from your favorite stories including little read riding hood, Cinderella etc etc.. you get the idea) causing them to flee into safer territory, i.e. our world or what they term the Mundy’s (short for mundane). So what is so interesting about this? Read on but be warned, spoilers ahead.

(continue reading…)