The F-Word Blog: 2013

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Currumbin Beach, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary & Mermaid Beach

Now if you remember, we had a kitchenette in our hotel room so most of our meals were from either Woolworth's or Cole's. We had these ready-made microwaveable meals one night and they were really good! #HelloooPreservatives haha.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Brisbane, Queen Street Mall & Night Market at Surfer's Paradise

Thankfully we rented a car so we were able to drive to Brisbane, around an hour or so from Surfer's Paradise. Alf got a GPS system which really helped us a lot in navigating our way.

WhiteWater World, Dreamworld & Night Market

Gold Coast is literally loaded with lots of fun places to go to - for both the young and the young at heart. Our next stop was WhiteWater World - another water theme park. Not as grand and as crowded as Wet N Wild but still worth a visit. It's just right beside Dreamworld which means you can do both in one day.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

MovieWorld, Hope Island, Wet n Wild & Broadbeach

I can't believe its already December! The year whizzed by just like that. Now I really have to catch up on my backlog haha. 2014 will be another year of travel and new discoveries and I'm really excited! But before that, here is more of our Australia trip in early 2013.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

How To Make Takoyaki

My cousin Aileen introduced me to homemade Takoyaki since she recently came back from her Japan trip. She got her takoyaki pan from Japan and I was on the hunt to get one here in Singapore. Last night, we first checked out Tangs in Orchard as that place has most of the hard-to-find stuff. Problem with Tangs is that most of the items are also exorbitantly expensive. Look at the photo above where a 7-hole pan costs $96 freaking dollars! Crazy!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Carrara Markets, SeaWorld, Marina Mirage, Broadwater Park & SkyPoint

I was more than excited to visit Carrara Markets as I love open-air street markets. Carrara is very similar to Chatuchak market in Bangkok but smaller. They are only open on Saturdays and Sundays. Since the weather was cool, it was much more comfortable to stroll around the market compared to Chatuchak.

Burleigh Heads, HarbourTown and Surfer's Paradise

I just came back from spending the weekend in Batam, Indonesia. I'll be posting about Batam in a separate blog so watch out for that in the next 6 months or so hahaha. Anyway, I'm working from home today (luckily) so I have 2 laptops in front of me - one for work and my personal laptop haha. I finally get to blog about our memorable Australia trip last April. Tomorrow is a holiday here so hopefully I can catch up on posts.

We rented a car from Hertz and picked it up at the Airport. Luckily, we got a discount from the NATAS travel fair a few months prior to our trip. Alf also got a Harvey Norman voucher from work so we used that to buy the GPS device for driving directions.
Read more on "Burleigh Heads, HarbourTown and Surfer's Paradise"!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Boracay, Manila & Tagaytay

I just finished laundry and while I'm resting to prepare for bed, here I am squeezing in a blog post. This was my first overseas trip for 2013 with Alf back in February of this year. I have been raving about Boracay to Alf and since he hasn't been to the Philippines, what better way to introduce him to the Philippines than to take him to the best island in the country, or in the world for that matter haha.

This is going to be a picture-heavy post so I hope you enjoy them. I tried to edit as much as I can but there are just too many good pictures, in my opinion at least haha.

First stop straight from the airport was to get supplies from my all time favorite S&R at the fort. (I think the fact that I still call the place "The Fort" reveals my age haha. I think people now call it BGC or High Street or something haha)
Read more on "Boracay, Manila & Tagaytay"!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Color Run Singapore

Well hello there. My blogging is like a yo-yo diet. On and Off. Haha. Anyway, here's a post I saved way back. Let's do this!

The Color Run Singapore, held last 17 & 18 August, was my first ever "marathon". And yes I put the quotation marks there because it's more like a fun run. And fun it was indeed! Thanks to Ruiza who helped us secure tickets through her work as tickets sold out quickly online.
Read more on "The Color Run Singapore"!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Frankfurt, Germany

This is another draft post I saved in April. Finally, this wraps up our Germany trip - 9 months later! Haha. I have so much backlog ugh! I'll be in Manila this weekend then Phuket the following week so my posts are just piling up! haha.

Anyway, Frankfurt was our last stop for this trip. Johann and my parents' flight were in the morning while mine was at night and my Aunt and Uncle's were the following day. Thus, we managed to squeeze in a day trip in Frankfurt.

Heidelberg Harvest Festival

(This was a draft post I saved in April. Sorry for the delay. Here we go...)

There were quite a few groceries near our apartment in Heidelberg. One of them was Alnatura (see above photo). It was like an organic health food store. Naturally, almost everything was expensive so I didn't really get to buy anything haha.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Stuttgart - Mercedes Benz Museum & Beer Fest

Well hello there! I can't believe it's already April and I have yet to complete my Germany trip posts haha. I have so many backlogs. I visited Boracay in the Philippines last February and I'll be back in Gold Coast Australia next week so I better get this going haha.

Having the chance to visit the place where Mercedes Benz originated was definitely a privilege. I have yet to buy one as I can't afford it but who knows one day haha.

Germans love Thai food...

Sunday, March 3, 2013

I Left my Heart in Paris...

And now we've come to the most awaited blog post of all (haha)... Paris! I still dream about Paris up to this day. The time we spent in Paris was just not enough and I will definitely ~~want~~ need to go back.

I made sure to make this trip happen and meticulously planned it before our Germany trip. Thank heavens really for the internet I managed to learn everything online and book our trains from Heidelberg to Frankfurt to Paris (it's not realy that difficult :-). As my Mom and Bob have already been to Paris previously, it was just me and Johann on this day trip.

This was in Frankfurt waiting for our train to Paris

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Baden-Baden

Day 5 was our much anticipated trip to Baden-Baden. Initially I had no clue what this town was all about but when I learned that Black Forest cake and the Cuckoo clock originated from here, I was more than excited :-).
Read more on "Baden-Baden"!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Fitness Blog #14- Fat Sick and Nearly Dead

It's 2013 and I'm sure just like most people, we all resolve to lose weight this new year. It's been a lifetime battle and pretty much a yo-yo experience for me. I must thank my friend Ana Pauline Cruz for introducing me to this documentary about juice fasting. I tell you, I have never been so passionate about a "diet" and I hope this finally is the one for me.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Stellar at 1-Altitude, One Raffles Place

I've been nursing a really bad ear infection the past few days. I think it's gotten better and I hope so as I've gone to the doctor twice the past few days since the pain didn't seem to go away. So to all my 10 readers (or is it 12 now? haha) out there, ~~dispose~~ throw your cotton buds and do not ever use them to dig or poke your ears. Use a towel or tissue paper or those oversized cotton buds - which I have been using the past few years actually. I just ran out recently. I may have scratched my ear, went for a jog (sweaty earphones) and a swim thus all that bacteria could have caused the infection. I know it feels like an orgasm using those cotton buds but look at what happened to me - and this is not the 1st time I've had this. #stubborn

Anyway, looking at the bright side I've had time to catch up on posts since I've been at home these past few days...

stellar one altitude one raffles place singapore

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Mannheim Farmer's Market & Schloss Mannheim

Happy 2013! I was consumed by the holidays that I couldn't get on with my blog posts. I wasn't able to go home to the Philippines this time but it's ok. My brother was here on the week of New Year so we celebrated New Year's eve at my cousin's new flat here in Singapore.

I also recently met Instagram haha - another distraction from updating this blog. Like what older people say about this generation, there's just too much going on. Sometimes I reminisce the days when life was simple and a book or a toy kept me happy. Oh well, times have really changed. For the better I guess.

Anyway, like I said on Facebook, I hope we are wiser, kinder, and better in appreciating the people and things around us that truly matter in this new year. Looking back at 2012, I feel really blessed. I may have lost some loved ones but gained new friends and even loved ones as well.

Now back to regular programming... Day 4 of Germany was in Mannheim. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart.