Budokan
Budokan Joined: November 6th 2005
Logged in: February 15th 2012
Logged in: February 15th 2012
Hailing from the tropics, Budokan is fortunate to reside in Singapore where jetsetting around have become very affordable. His greatest passion lies in cultivating his lifetime hobby of travelling.
His constant curiosity for new places have brought him to the remote mountains of Chiang Mai (2005), rode himself on the London Eye (2009), ski on the slopes of Hokkaido (2008) and paid homeage to the magnificent Temples of Angkor (2008).
17 countries, 169 cities (Jan 2012) and still counting, he would call it a day when he no longer have the strength to lift his backpack. Until then, he would continue to update his travel tales for as long as he could be.
Travel Blog Posts
Wang Qing Yuan open house
Sunday, 29th January 2012 Visiting Wang Qing Yuan (aka Dr Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall) at Tai Gin Road (off Balestier Road) was a last minute affair. Never mind that there were more relatives' homes that I was supposed to visit this afternoon. And never mind that there were birthday celebrations and a farewell dinner that I was supposed to attend the very same evening. This was just one of those few lousy moments that I genuinely wanted some peace and quiet. And since I had combed through all the other museums during the previous open houses, I just wanted to add Wang Qing Yuan to my portfolio. This was the latest museum to be included under the National Heritage Board umbrella. No prizes for guessing it right, the $4 admission was waived and this ... read more
Jonkers Walk, Melaka
Saturday, 31st December 2011 ~ Monday, 2nd January 2012 We decided to spend the last day of 2011 in the city of Melaka, some 240km away from where we were in Singapore. Our 8am Luxury Coach departed on time from Concorde Hotel before we were held up for a good 1 hour at the understaffed Royal Malaysian Customs. Apparently, only 4 out of the 12 check-points were in operation this morning! Visitors' traffic wasn't heavy considering the long weekend festive crush. It was just a matter of speeding things up a little during the immigration clearance. Along the way, our bus stopped for an uneventful 20 minutes at Yong Peng Lucky Gardens before continuing the journey towards Melaka City. It finally dropped us right at the lobby of Equatorial Hotel slightly after 1.40pm. Coupled with another ... read more
Welcome 17th Dec weekend
My Staycation Weekend Experience Saturday, 17th December 2011 For the most things in life, there was always a first time. A week before Christmas long weekend, I decided for once, to embark on a Staycation at url=http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g294265-d306192-r121855121-PARKROYAL_on_Beach_Road-Singapore.htmlParkRoyal on Beach Road - a vacation without having to leave one's home country. My Staycation Wishlist was straightforward enough... 1) A decent location away from touristy Orchard Road and Marina Bay. (And of course, away from the problematic North South MRT Line!) 2) A decent pool and a bathtub for me to engage in nothing other than swimming and bubble bath activities. 3) A good night's stay with complimentary buffet breakfast within my SGD 200 budget. b... read more
Good morning KL from Cititel
Saturday, 19th November 2011 Thinking of 那些年 when I first travelled to Kuala Lumpur with Mr L on my first overseas vacation, it brought back nice travel memories of those days. And watching 那些年 again on the big screen today at Kuala Lumpur, 看的依旧是那份感动. 我想每个人心中都有属于自己的那些年. 我想就是这些那些年才让自己的人生多了一份精彩，多了一份感动. After breakfast this morning, we decided to bring SY to our favourite haunts in Bukit Bintang. First on our itinerary was a visit to the Farenheit 88, a new mall opposite the Pavilion. This was formerly known as KL Plaza where it used to house big names like the Planet Hollywood and Tower Records in the 1990s. Today, this is home to KL's first Uniqlo Store and some other shops targeting to the young at heart. At the Pavilion Mall, we che... read more
Encore 那些年
Friday, 18th November 2011 3.30am - Good morning Singapore, as I set my alarm clock ringing in time for our 6.25pm Airasia flight to Kuala Lumpur LCCT. 4.15am - I stopped by at XW's house at AMK before picking SY at Kembangan. 5.00am - 3 of us arrived at Changi Terminal 1 while waiting for CC to arrive at 5.15 am. Check-in procedures and boarding passes were already printed way before the trip so it was final verification of the travel documents at the check-in desk before our flight. Our flight departed on schedule and 1 hour into our journey, we had landed safely at the Malaysian capital. I had used up my FINAL day of my annual leave entitlement on this 3D2N trip with 2 colleagues and CC who would be travelling with us. Arrival ... read more
St Peter's Square, Vatican City
Thursday, 27th October 2011 Our final stop in Italy and for the whole of the Europe trip was the journey to Vatican City, home for the Roman Catholicism. Vatican City is actually located within the western part of Rome City, reachable via a simple Metro ride from where we stayed if not for the events that followed. This morning, after getting our water supplies from the Conad Supermarket at the basement of the Rome Station, 3 of us were walking towards the Metro direction when we heard a loud commotion. Before we knew it, a group of some few hundred people came charging towards our direction. Our natural reaction was two-fold :- 1) To give way to the "fastest runners" among the pack and retreat to a corner for safety since we wouldn't know where they ... read more
The Colosseum
Day 8: Wednesday, 26th October 2011 This morning, we bade goodbye to lovely Florence as well as to our friendly B&B owner, Casa before continuing our journey south to Rome, the capital of Italy. Even before stepping foot into the city, Casa had warned us to be extra mindful of our surroundings when taking the Metro as she herself, had been pickpocketed on several occasions when she wasn't on her guard. Arriving at the sprawling Roma Termini Station that afternoon, it took us quite a while to find our bearings, to get to our prebooked accomodation at the Chinatown area. Without a doubt, our url=http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g187791-d1085952-r120097997-Hotel_Filippo_Roma-Rome_Lazio.htmlhotel room was clean, comfortable and functionable. Personally, however, this was a mediocre experience (no offence though) compared to the atmospheric B&B we staye... read more
Florence's atmospheric streets
Tuesday, 25th October 2011 After an early morning attempt to Montevarchi to check out the Prada Space Outlet, we were back at Florence by lunch-time as planned. Armed ourselves with some take-aways from the local supermarket, we headed straight to our B&B to catch some rest while waiting for the afternoon rains to subside. The heavy rains were reduced to a mere drizzle by the time we made our way out at 4pm in the afternoon. We were eager to check out the city's Duomo, reachable through a long stretch of shopping street along the main Via Nationale thoroughfare. Overwhelmed by the number of churches and duomos we visited over the past few days, the Florence's version wasn't too captivating even though the Dome-shaped structure was attractive from a distance. At the time of our visit, ... read more
Lovely Stay
Monday, 24th October 2011 Florence was our next stop after Milan. Casa Di Barbano was where we would be spending our next 2 nights in this renaissance city. Our url=http://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/ShowUserReviews-g187895-d597091-r119858784-Casa_Di_Barbano-Florence_Tuscany.htmlB&B was located within 15 minutes walk from the train station where the owner was already eagerly waiting for us that afternoon. "Welcome to the city of Florence and welcome to my home!" Casa greeted us with her infectious smile. She went on to share with us her love of this beautiful city and suggested the many places we could visit during our stay with them. Indeed if time was never the issue, we would have followed her travel advices. Already in our pipeline were planned visits to the Leaning Tower of Pisa as well as the Space Outlet ... read more
The Pisa Tower
Monday, 24th October 2011 On the same afternoon we landed in Florence, we headed straight to the city of Pisa in order to free up time from the following day's packed itinerary. The local train to Pisa Centrale took a good 60 minutes from Florence passing through the charming Tuscany countryside flanked by houses on both sides of the rails. Since train announcements were never made on local trains (kind of surprise given that we were on a tourist route), we had to be extra vigilant in order not to miss our intended stop. The assistance from the Italian lady on board did serve to assure us that we were indeed on the right direction. From Pisa Centrale, the iconic Leaning Tower was another 25 minutes walk north of the station. Completed during the medieval times ... read more
Asia 
Europe 
Oceania 
