Vietnam 2007

Simple Plan:
Oz - Vietnam - Oz

Expaneded Plan:
Sydney - Ho Chi Minh City - Sydney

Date:
19/6/07 - 28/6/07

Flying:
JetStar

Cost:
$$

Thailand 2007

Simple Plan:
Oz - Thailand - Oz

Expaneded Plan:
Sydney - Phuket - Sydney

Date:
28/2/07 - 12/3/07

Flying:
JetStar

Cost:
$$

Gold Coast 2006

Simple Plan:
Oz

Expaneded Plan:
Sydney - Gold Coast - Sydney

Date:
5/8/06 - 8/8/06

Flying:
JetStar - Virgin Blue

Cost:
$$$$

Day 4 8/8/06 - Australia

Surfers Paradise -> Coolangatta -> Sydney

Highlight

• I tried to get another 10% off using the e-card, but apparently the reservations and rates are done in another system so they cannot change it, yeah whatever, I won't be going back to Hotel Watermark again.
• Waking up at 5am to catch a flight is never fun, alas, we have no annual leave left so that's that.
• We used Virgin's new Web Check-in, and were ready to go in a half hour. Surprisingly the flight was pretty full.
• Another trip over, this one didn't really feel like much of a holiday, but it was fun to get away from routine for awhile. I'd forgotten how friendly people in Australia used to be.

Food

• Witches Chase Cheese Company ABC Mango ($6.00)
• strawberries ($6)

Day 3 7/8/06 - Australia

Surfers Paradise -> Broadbeach -> Main Beach -> Biggera Waters -> Labrador - > Main beach -> Broadbeach -> Surfers Paradise

Highlight

• Endured Slokky watching motor racing all of last night, then getting woken up in the middle of the night 'cos Slokky had to go to the toilet.
• Slokky suggesting that we go to watch sunrise, and then going back to sleep causing us to miss the sunrise.
• Slokky sleeping through the whole morning so I had nothing to do except play solitaire.
• Slokky didn't let me go to the gym and didn't stick to the plan.
• Time to visit the other shopping centre, Oasis Shopping Centre, where we enjoyed an al fresco breakfast at Madisons cafe. (see review).
• The weather was not so crash hot today, but every time we stepped foot on the beach, it started raining. Despite the weather, the beach is still nicer than any on the Mediterranean though.
• Went to .... for 18 holes of putt-putt. The greens were really worn and all the courses were really similar, not an enjoyable experience. On the plus side though, we had the whole course to ourselves.
• Because of the weather, we decided to do some retail therapy at Harbour Town, a discount outlet. To our dismay, the shops were not cheap at all, and there was no good fine. I managed to do the whole strip in a record 2 hours. The only worthy shop was the Fossil outlet, which I haven't come across in Sydney. We managed to get 2 bags and some cuff links. The other find was a pair of Mavi jeans for Slokky for only $19.
• We went to explore the neighbourhood, thanks to the e-book, and discovered Labrador, a nice coast side town with a great view of the Gold Coast high rises. Alas, all the shops and restaurants there were closed on a Monday in off-season.
• We ended up back at Tedder Ave for dinner, and I'm so glad we did. This time we tried another of the "Best restaurants", Bahia (see review), and we were blown away by the service, the great food, and not to mention the free platter of Turkish bread and dip starter we enjoyed for being the first people to dine in the restaurant that evening. A gem!
• Slokky managed to knock my fork to the floor twice during dinner.
• We wanted to go to the Dracula's Cabaret but being off-season, the shows weren't running on Sundays or Mondays, so we went to our 2nd choice, Tempo Rouge stage spectacular at Conrads Jupiter. We were surrounded by oldies, who all felt the urge to stand up and boogie (the less said about that the better), and besides the few really corny American acts, including a guy who was really up himself, a male lead that couldn't really sing, and a really gross bendy man, the show was very good! Note for the guys - the girl dancers were really HOT!!
• Petrol is so cheap here. We filled up for $122.9/L. We could've got cheaper, but we thought we'd better fill up before we left before 6am the next day. We need not have worried, every single petrol station from Surfers to the airport was opened before 6, offering prices that were even cheaper!
• Another variable shampoo experience... the first night we got one, the second night 2, the third night, none... please explain.

Food

• Breakfast at Madisons:
  • Eggs benedict - bacon, spinach, egg and hollandaise on Turkish toast ($14.85)
  • grilled corn bread - with poached eggs, chicken, roma tomato, rocket and hollandaise ($14.85)
• Large Coffee Club cappuccino ($3.60).
• Boost juice Raspberry Relief ($5.40).
• Boost juice Banana Buzz ($5.40).
• Nandos lemon and herb and chilli chicken ($4.50 each).
• Dinner at Bahia:
  • amuse boucle of seared beef fillet with beetroot and couscous salad
  • toasted Turkish bread dip with sundried tomato, walnut & basil, and cream cheese & mustard (complimentary)
  • pan seared snapper fillet on spring onion mash with brandied scallop sauce ($33.90)
  • twice cooked crispy duck served on chive and potato rosti, tempura bok choy with sweet chilli plum sauce

Day 2 6/8/06 - Australia

Surfers Paradise -> Broadbeach -> Lamington National Park -> Tamborine Mountain -> Main Beach -> Surfers Paradise

Highlight

• Had a very bad night's sleep, what's with the very firm bed?
• Our first stop was the Carrara markets, which is a permanent market with over 500 stalls that are opened every weekend. My impression, laid back market with a focus on haberdashery items.
• Not finding any food to our liking at Carrara (Qld, btw, has much cheaper food than Sydney), we headed to Pacific Fair, the huge shopping centre with everything, for an Oportos brunch. I like this shopping centre, it has great shops, and is laid out as a combination of shopping centre block and sprawned village.
• Off to Lamington National Park (cute name) where we went on 2 mini bush walks. The first, had great views over the hinterland in the first 20 minutes, then turned into some very repetitive zig-zagging up the mountain. The highlight though, Slokky jumping at the sight of a dead lizard. The second led to a view of the valley. The park was not very green but was a pleasant place to spend a morning.
• Afternoon tea at the picturesque Polish Place with great people and homely food. (see review)
• Slokky managed to first knock over the change when he was paying for our meal, and after that, leaving his wallet at The Polish Place... sigh!
• Made our way through some of the food and wine trail for the Gold Coast Hinterland. After Slokky didn't listen to me, the GPS and himself, we finally made it to the Witches Chase Cheese Company 10 minutes before they closed, for some surprisingly outstanding cheese and yoghurt. The place was pretty packed but the staff were very personable to everyone.
• We made our way to Car stalling continues, this time at a right hand turn, causing us to miss the turn and everyone behind us missing the turn. We got some really dirty looks.
• Slokky forgetting his phone twice and had to keep going back to get it, wasting valuable time.
• Slokky forgetting the camera after I specifically asked him to take it, so we had to spend an extra 1/2 hour going back to the hotel to get it.
• Dinner at Tedder Ave, where everyone is a "best restaurant".
• The stupid guy at Baskin Robins won't let us use our e-book voucher, because we ordered 2 large ice-cream and the coupon said "regular" ice-cream only. However, on their menu, they only had 1 scoop (small) or 2 scoop (large) options. At New Zealands Natural, a "regular" was considered 2 scoops, how do I know to interpret "regular" as large? Because I'd already started licking my ice-cream, we had to pay up. I tried to argue with the guy but he wouldn't budge. I wonder if I can write in somewhere to get him fired...
• After dinner, we went for a walk on Cavill Ave, the "heart" of the Gold Coast. There were lots of young and old people, all hanging out, having dinners or dessert at the many restaurants. The vibe was great.

Food

• Pure and Natural banana and strawberry smoothie ($4.20).
• Pure and Natural banana, mango and apricot smoothie ($4.20).
• Oportos regular bondi burger ($6).
• Afternoon tea at The Polish Place:
  • Polish Bigos with Sausage ($19)
  • Meat and Herb Pierogi ($19)
• Taste test cheese, dips and yoghurt at Witches Chase Cheese Company.
• Dinner at Domani's (review):
  • Grilled Moreton bay bugs, mixed leaf salad, chilli lime dressing ($36.50)
  • Seafood linguini ($36.50)
• Baskin Robbins ice cream with German Chocolate Cake (Swiss chocolate ice cream with coconut, walnut pieces, milk chocolate brownie bits and a caramel ribbon) and Espresso 'n' cream (A rich combination of extra strength lowfat Jamoca ice cream with chocolate flakes swirled together with creamy lowfat vanilla ice cream) ($5.80).
• Baskin Robbins ice cream with Jamoca Almond Fudge (Our own Jamoca ice cream with a chocolate fudge ribbon and roasted almonds) and Old Fashioned Butter Pecan (Butter Pecan ice cream with butter-roasted pecans) ($5.80).

Day 1 5/8/06 - Australia

Sydney -> Coolangatta -> Surfers Paradise

Highlight

• Sydney Airport T2 was being renovated, so there was nothing much to do. All the chain food and retail stores seem to now have representation there though.
• We expected our $5 Jetstar flight to be really crowded, but surprisingly, it wasn't the case. It's been awhile since our last flight and I'm happy to report their seats have much more leg room now (not that it matters to me). Our 1/3 full flight arrived at Gold Coast airport ahead of schedule, a great start to our holidays.
• Since Europe, we've decided to always hire manual cars from now on, and we picked up our black Toyota Yaris (click here for review), stuffed our huge suitcase in the backseat and off we went. Slokky only managed to stall once, at the lights, on the 30 mins drive up to Surfers.
• I was disappointed with our 4.5 stars hotel. We'd booked a Deluxe room instead of a Superior room ($30 extra per night) so we expected it to be good. The room was ordinary (click here for review), and they didn't even give us any soap!
• We spent the night going through travel brochures thinking of what to do.

Food

• Rice paper rolls with prawns, corn and broccoli

The Jumbo

I will now explain the CC Jumbo Point System of Airline Rating, aka The Jumbo. Each airline will be rated on these factors:

• Drive - handling, looks (5 pts max)
• Comfort - seat, cushioning, storage, extras (5)
• Service - staff, convenience (5)
• Value - value for money (5)
• Clean - inside and outside (5)

Jumbo Points will be calculated by adding the total from the 5 categories above.

The Zoomies

I will now explain the CC Zoom Point System of Car Rating, aka The Zoomies. Each car will be rated on these factors:

• Drive - handling, looks (5 pts max)
• Comfort - seat, cushioning, storage, extras (5)
• Service - staff, convenience (5)
• Value - value for money (5)
• Clean - inside and outside (5)

Zoomie Points will be calculated by adding the total from the 5 categories above.

Taiseikan

Room

Taiseikan is a traditional Japanese full-service ryokan. If you're ever in Japan, this must be experienced. The room was very spacious, with a separate lounge area, a bathroom that has natural spring water running through the taps, and the separate area with tatami mats where we will be eating and sleeping. The room was decorated in the traditional Japanese style, with paper screen separating the two sections. Tasteful pictures hung on the wall, and most importantly, there was a great view of the creek flowing outside our window.

Surprisingly, sleeping on futons on the floor, with very fluffy doonas, was very comfortable.

Rating - 4.5

Facilities

This place also had everything we wanted and much more. The bathroom came with toiletries like "body lotion", "hair lotion", "skin lotion" and "milk lotion". Did I mention that this place has its own indoor and outdoor hot springs and baths? It was divine, I went to the ladies section and had it almost all to myself most times. Of course, all the mod-cons like hair-dryers, towels, scales were present.

There are different slippers for everything, going to the bathroom, going on tatami mats and going outside. We kept forgetting to change our slippers which I think is very bad etiquette. The staff also kept turning and rearranging our slippers every time we took them off which made us feel guilty!

The staff are very, very very polite. They want to clean and serve us all the time. The morning we were leaving, they loaded all of our luggage and pushed it out of the room for us without us even asking. Our personal "maid" couldn't speak very much English so it was very funny watching her trying to explain the rituals to us.

Rating - 5

Location

A very handy location 2 minutes away from the Miyanoshita railway station or 1 minutes from Miyanoshita bus stop. The hotel is reached by a 10 minutes cable car ride. You go all the way down the mountain, and end up in a valley. So as you can see, the hotel is very secluded.

Rating - 5

Value

Very expensive at 42000 Yen per night, including breakfast and dinner. But for the level of service and the quality we experienced, it was definitely worth it.

Rating - 4.5

Food

Part of the experience is of course the food. Dinner and breakfast is only part of the ritual. We were served kaiseki style cuisine in our rooms by our maid, little dishes of exquisitely presented food appealed before us, until the whole table was filled. It was a culinary and visual experience. There was a lot of attention to details, a balance of different flavour, and the potions thought out carefully so you don't feel bloated at the end of the meal. (See my post on this). I think if we had a better understanding and appreciation of Japanese cuisine we would have enjoyed it even more as each dish is supposed to have a lot of meaning behind it.

Rating - 4.5

Snoozie Points - 23.5

Info

72 Miyanoshita,
Hakone, Kanagawa 250-0404,
Japan
Phone +81-460-2-2281
Website

Hotel Kitcho

Room

For hotel rooms in Japan, this place is extra roomy. We have room to put our 2 large suitcases, actually turn around, and the bathroom was pretty big too! The beds were king sized single and very comfy. Decor wise, nothing fancy, except for the ashtrays that seem to be everywhere.

Rating - 5

Facilities

This provided everything we needed and things I didn't even think I needed. Besides tea and coffee making facilities, fridge, shampoo, conditioner, bath salts, toothbrush, hairbrush, shower cap, cotton buds... I didn't need to bring anything at all! There is a "pillow room" where you can go to choose the type of pillow you want. There's an automatic shoe cleaner where we stuck our shoes in every morning for the tickling effect. The laundry was quite cheap at 100 Yen a wash. We didn't try out the restaurant attached to the hotel but it seemed very popular. The best thing though, they have good quality bicycles available for guests. We took it out for 2 days and felt like a local.

The staff, like all Japanese were very polite and helpful. Their English were sufficient for us to communicate, but sometimes they didn't understand our request very well.

Rating - 5

Location

Depending on how you see it, the location could be an advantage or disadvantage. Located in Nihonbashi, it's away from the tourist area, but it was situated in suburban Tokyo, close to the financial headquarters, so we got to see what happens everyday for Japanese. Things are also cheaper out in the suburbs, there are little izakayas and even a home-made rice cracker store very close to our hotel.

Because of the excellent public transport system, you can reach Kitcho easily from the metro. However, we couldn't ride this for free with the JR Rail Pass, so we mostly walked or cycled to the closest JR station, which took about 20 minutes.

Rating - 3

Value

9450 Yen per night, not including food. For the standard we were given, excellent. I think this place raised the expectations of what we were expecting from hotels for the rest of the trip!

Rating - 4.5

Snoozie Points - 17.5

Info

2-32-8 Ningyo-cho
Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku
Tokyo 103-0013, Japan
Phone +81-3-3666-6161
Website

The Snoozies

I will now explain the CC Snooze Point System of Hotel Rating, aka The Snoozies. Each hotel will be rated on these factors:

• Room - room size, room decor, bed size, pillows (5 pts max)
• Facilities - staff, facilities (5)
• Location- convenience, setting (5)
• Value - value for money (5)
• Food (where applicable) - quality and quantity, variety (5)

Snooze Points will be calculated by adding the total from the 4 or 5 categories above.