30 Nov & 1 Dec 15 – Day 1 & 2 (Auckland and Rotorua)

Reached Changi Airport Terminal 3 about 6:30pm, met up with SWT and then proceeded to Row 7 to look for the Tour Manager, Cynthia Cheong. She handed the group members the necessary documents and then told us to do check-in. Peeped at the weight of my luggage and it read 11.5kg. Cleared the immigration, looked around some shops, took some photos of the decorations in the airport before heading to the designated gate closed to 8:20pm. Only noticed that the boarding time stated on the boarding pass was 7:50pm and got a bit panicky, especially when I heard someone doing last call to a flight beyond the security check. Got to the gate and found out that the boarding for our section was over, so quickly joined the queue to get on the plane. The flight was delayed and only took off about 9:30pm. Watched 1-2 movies, ate the dinner provided, asked for some white wine and went to sleep after they dimmed the light.

We touched down closed to 12 noon and only got out of the airport at 1+pm because of the stringent checking. The temperature was cooling and comfortable with my sweater on. Gathered all the group members, met up with our driver cum local guide, loaded our luggage onto the coach and we were off from Auckland to Rotorua. The first Maori phrase we learnt from the driver was “Kia Ora” which means be well/healthy and can be loosely used to say hi. We stopped at a rest stop for quick lunch close to 2pm. As we had some food on the plane before we landed, SWT and I were not hungry so popped into a mini-mart to check out the flavors available for ice cream. We spotted the Goody Goody Gum Drop flavor and the Hokey Pokey flavor, both were the recommended flavors to try in New Zealand (NZ). So I ordered a single scoop Hokey Pokey ice cream cone while SWT ordered the Goody Goody Gum Drop flavor and the ice cream cost us NZ$2.80 each. It was really value for money because it was technically 1.5 scoop even though the price was for single scoop. After tasting the Goody Goody Gum Drop ice cream from SWT, I was glad I made the right choice by choosing Hokey Pokey.

Soon we were on the road again. The driver told us that it would be approximately two-hour drive to Rotorua so SWT slept while I watched the scenery. We reached our first destination, Te Puia, closed to 5pm. Cynthia quickly went to get tickets while the rest waited. Then we were herded past the entrance to meet with our guide for the tour. Te Puia is located in the Whakarewarewa Geothermal Valley and consists of the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute, a live kiwi enclosure and lots of geysers as well as mud pools. The guide told us that because of the geothermal activities in the area, there is a lot of sulfur produced and hence the area smells like rotten eggs. The temperature of the water in the area can be as high as 100 degree Celsius. He advised us not to touch the water in the rivers or springs when we are in Rotorua because we wouldn’t know if the water is hot or not.

The guide first brought us to the kiwi enclosure to see the kiwi birds. Unfortunately, they were hiding in their burrows and so we could only view the birds via the TV screen on the wall. After that, we were brought to the area where the mud pools and geysers were. According to the guide, the mud pool is called Koko Mud Pool, named after a famous chief from the original fortified settlement in the area. The mud has many uses and is well-known as a skin care product. Near the mud pool is where the geysers are. The biggest geyser is called Pohutu and it is the largest active geyser in the southern hemisphere. It can erupt to a height of 30m. Beside Pohutu is the Te Tohu, or ‘Prince of Wales Feathers’ and it is an indicator for Pohutu as Pohutu usually erupts after Te Tohu does. We were just in time to see both geysers in action. Quickly took photos and videos of them in action. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay long because we still had to visit the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute. Followed the guide to the Institute where he explained about the structure of the meeting house, what each section represents and so on. Then we proceeded to the National Carving School and the National Weaving School where more explanations were given. We quickly browsed through the interior of both schools before moving off because it was already passed their closing time of 6pm.

Boarded the coach and we made our way to a Chinese restaurant in Rotorua Central for dinner. As most of the people in our tour group were families or couples, Cynthia requested SWT and me to split up to join different tables. We were reluctant but then we were her only option. As it was our first meal together with other group members, most of the people at my table did not interact much. Survived dinner and stood around the coach waiting for the rest to come out. SWT and I went to check out the bakery café few shop space away. Unfortunately, it was closed for the day. Got onto the coach and soon we were at the hotel, checked in, settled down and then we went out again to the Pak’nSave supermarket that was near to the hotel. As per what the members in TA said, the supermarket was really big and the price of the products was really affordable. The supermarket was selling packs of yogurt powder which were much cheaper compared to those selling back home. And I also saw the avocado oil that I was planning to buy during this trip. 

As we still need to take a domestic flight from North Island to South Island in a couple of days, Cynthia advised us to do our bulk shopping during the second last day in South Island where there will be another Pak’nSave supermarket in Christchurch. So I ended up just buying a bottle of 1-liter orange juice, a pack of limited edition All Black Whittaker’s Peanut Slab and a small Lolly Cake while SWT bought a pack of Copper Kettle potato chips, a pack of Heartland potato chips (a brand recommended by Cynthia) and a pack of chocolate drops. Walked back, put down our things and we packed for our spa activity at the nearby Polynesian Spa. We asked for a standard private room and a towel each which in total cost us NZ$56 of which the deposit of NZ$10 was refundable. We were brought to our room, quickly changed into our swim suits and then went into the pool because it was quite cold. The water was comfortably warm and we had fun time soaking ourselves in the pool. Took some photos using SWT’s mobile phone and soon the 30 minutes were up. Quickly changed out of our swim suits, dried ourselves, returned the towels, collected our deposit and hurried back to our hotel. SWT was for the idea of not taking shower but I was against. Not sure if she did shower in the end though I definitely did. Blew dry my hair, shared the small Lollly cake with SWT, sorted out the money we owed each other, packed for the next day and then hit the bed.

Thoughts: As usual, it would have been good if we were given more time to explore Te Puia but I guess it is always going to be the problem with package tour. The mud pools and geysers were really a magnificent sight. Photos and videos cannot do justice. Lolly cake was one of the must-eat food in my list and the after-thought was that it is a tad too sweet for my liking.

Some (fun) facts of NZ from the driver:

• Silver ferns are unique to NZ. The underside of the leaves is silvery in color and in the olden days, the Maori people use the underside of the fern leaves to find their way home because when bent over, the fronds would catch the moonlight and illuminate a path through the forest.

• There are three types of kiwi in NZ: The Kiwi Bird; the Kiwi Fruit and the Kiwis. The New Zealanders don’t mind calling themselves Kiwis. In fact, they are quite proud of it.

• There are many sheep in NZ and the ratio of sheep to people is six to one. Beside sheep farm, there are also deer farm and cattle farm. There are also vegetables farm and the crops grown rotate every year. For example, a piece of land could have grown onion last year and that same piece of land can be growing potato this year. The reason for the rotation is to maintain the level of nutrients in the ground.

14 Nov 15 (Sat) - Malawi Shandy

For someone who doesn't like to drink wine, beer and liquor, I love my desserts with alcohol and I love my Angostura bitters. Been making and drinking lemon lime bitters lately and was wondering what else I can use the Angostura bitters on. Did a search on the Internet and found a popular drink in Southern Africa called Malawi Shandy, which is made with half lemonade, half ginger beer and a few dashes of Angostura bitters. 

Made one today and it was yummy, especially when today was unbearably hot, hot, hot!

1 Nov 15 (Sun) – Lemon Lime Bitters and Lemon Lime Cheesecake

After the mostly successful cheesecake making last week, I got somewhat excited and went to get myself a mini springform baking pan on Tuesday.  Then I started to brainstorm on what cheesecake to make since I still have half tub of the Philadelphia cream cheese left.  Searched my pantry couple of nights ago and found a bottle of angostura aromatic bitters which I bought during my UK trip last December.  Recalled that I bought it because I wanted to make lemon, lime, bitters (LLB) after having first tasted it while on a Great Ocean Road day trip during my Melbourne trip last November. Then an idea struck, how about a lemon, lime cheesecake? Searched the Internet for recipes on LLB and recipes on lemon, lime cheesecake that I can adapt and modify.

Found a website called HubPages that shows how to make LLB in different ways and decided to go for the easiest one which is the bar recipe.  Then I found another website called taste,com.au that shows how to make no-bake lemon lime cheesecake.  Read all the comments and found out that some people modify the recipe to make lemon cheesecake while some modify it to make lime cheesecake. Being ambitious, I decided to make a lime cheesecake and top it off with a thin layer of lemon-flavored jelly.  Since I have never made jelly using gelatin powder before, I had to search for recipe on that.  It was not easy and in the end, I had to modify from another recipe by Anncoo Journal.

Went to get the necessary ingredients during the week and was looking forward to Sunday.  The LLB tasted great!  And I finally got to know how LLB gets it tint of pinkish color.  The angostura aromatic bitters was actually brownish in color.  As for the cheesecake, I did not add enough sugar for the jelly so it was quite sour and sort of overpower the lime flavor in the cheesecake.  Also the jelly melts very fast so it got quite messy if the cheesecake was left outside the fridge for too long.

Lemon, Lime, Bitters (LLB) [Bar Recipe]

Ingredients:

Lemon-flavor 7-Up 15ml of lime juice

6-8 dashes angostura aromatic bitters

Method:

1.  Rim the inside of a tall drink glass with angostura aromatic bitters

2.  Add ice and swirl until the inside of the glass is evenly coated with aromatic bitters

3.  Top up the glass with lemon-flavor 7-Up

4.  Add 15ml of lime juice

5.  Garnish slices of lemon &/or lime

Lime Cheesecake with Lemon-flavor Jelly

Crust ingredients:

75g digestive biscuits (finely crushed)

28g butter (melted)

8g castor sugar 

Filling ingredients:

125g cream cheese (soften, room temperature)

45g icing sugar

75g silken tofu (mashed)

1 tsp gelatin powder

9ml lime juice

zest of 1 large lime (save some for garnishing)

Jelly ingredients:

20ml lukewarm water

150ml lemon juice

24g sugar

1.5 tsp gelatin powder

Method:

1.  Combine crust ingredients in mixing bowl

2.  Use back of a spoon to press the crumbs firmly to the base of the springform baking pan

3.  Chill in freezer for 30mins

4.  Warm up the lime juice in a bowl, then sprinkle the gelatin powder over it (do not stir)

5.  Let the mixture stand for 10mins for the gelatin powder to bloom

6.  Set the bowl over simmering water, stir with a spoon till the gelatin melts and let it cool

7.  Use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese, tofu and icing sugar till smooth

8.  Add lime zest and gelatin mixture and beat till well combined

9.  Pour batter onto crust and sprinkle some leftover lime zest over it

10.  Put cake into the fridge to set

11.  Place warm water in a bowl, then sprinkle the gelatin powder over it (do not stir)

12.  Let the mixture stand for 10mins for the gelatin powder to bloom

13.  Set the bowl over simmering water, stir with a spoon till the gelatin melts and let it cool

14.  Place lemon juice and sugar in a pot, cook over medium heat till sugar dissolves

15.  Add gelatin mixture when juice boils, stir till they are well combine and let it cool to room temperature

16.  Remove cheesecake from fridge and carefully strain the jelly mixture over the top of the cake

17.  Put the cake with jelly top back to the fridge and refrigerate for 4-5 hours or overnight

Finally, I think I need to improve my skill on lining the springform baking pan.  I had big problem unmolding the cheesecake from the base and I think I will have to bring the whole cake with the base to office instead.  Hrm... or perhaps next time instead of using baking paper to line the base, I should try using foil to wrap the base.  Since the gelatin melts so fast, I decided to put the whole cake into the freezer so that it becomes frozen cheesecake!

---------------- Edited on 2 Nov 2015 ----------------

Brought the mini lemon lime cheesecake to office and put it in the fridge. Informed my usual group about it and at the same time warned them that it could taste rather sour. They ate the cake during tea-break and the overall comments were:

1.  Too sour for most
2.  Lemon taste overpowered lime taste
3.  Cake too soft
4.  Crust improved from last round

Hrm... will need more practice!

25 Oct 15 (Sun) - Pumpkin Tofu Cheesecake

It is October again! One of my favourite months in the year because I love the mood of Halloween and I love pumpkins! Googled for recipes using pumpkin and came across this Pumpkin Tofu Cheesecake Jar by Baking Taitai. So went to get all the necessary ingredients and made it today. 

Instead of using jars, I made it into a small cake and into some tarts. It came out quite nice for the cake but I cannot say the same for the tarts because I had problem pressing the biscuit crumbs to form the crust. Taste wise, unfortunately, I could not really taste the pumpkin, instead, I could taste more of the tofu and the lemon. Perhaps I should rename my blog post as Lemon Tofu Cheesecake/Tarts.

Making no-bake cheesecake is not as difficult as I initially thought. Still have half tub of the cream cheese left, perhaps next round I can do a basic no-bake cheesecake instead.

Anyway, Happy Halloween in advance!

---------------- Edited at 9:28pm ----------------

Could not figure out what went wrong as I had followed the recipe closely. Read and re-read the recipe from Baking Taitai and finally saw the problem. Instead of using just 100g silken tofu, I used the whole box instead. No wonder the tofu taste was stronger than the pumpkin taste. Oh well... At least the look of the cake turned out well.

---------------- Edited on 27 Oct 2015 ----------------

Brought three tarts to office for my colleagues to try. Generally the feedback was good even though they knew I had made a BIG mistake of adding one whole box of tofu instead of just 100g. They commented that the tarts were not too sweet. Crusts and fillings were a bit soft. I guess the reasons are that the crusts were not baked and I had added too much tofu.

One of them commented, "I liked the tart. It's not too jelat, and had nice texture. I was initially a bit surprised at how the tofu and pumpkin made the tart not as smooth as what I expected of cheesecake, but it works. it leaves the mouth with a very clean finish (cleaner than say a pure cheese tart)."

Phew! Glad that my mistake did not turn into a disaster. 

26 Sep 15 (Sat) – Broccoli Egg Tofu

Saw a dish called spinach egg tofu on a tv show recently but didn’t manage to jot down the recipe. Since I had some broccoli on hand so decided to try recreating the dish on my own. The result was different from what I saw on the show. The spinach egg tofu had a nice emerald green colour but mine was still yellow in colour with the broccoli bits cut from the broccoli’s crown found at the top of the tofu. Despite the difference, the egg tofu had a nice hint of soy and egg taste.

Maybe next time I should try cooking the spinach first, then minced or blend them before mixing them with the egg and soy milk mixture. Maybe I could also try adding a little bit of salt or light soy sauce to it so that it will not be too bland. 

Ingredients:

Some bits cut from the crown of a few broccoli florets 

68ml soy milk

1 egg

Method:

1.  Line a small rectangular baking tin with baking paper

2.  Beat egg and soy milk till well combine

3.  Add in broccoli bits and mix well

4.  Pour the egg mixture into the lined baking tin

5.  Cover the tin with foil

6.  Steam it for 12 mins in a pot with a lid on using medium heat

7.  Lift the lid up a bit to release some steam every 4 mins

8.  Off the heat after 12 mins and cut into slices

9.  Serve with tobacco sauce

24 Sep 15 (Thu - Hari Raya Haji) – Rambutan with Pineapple Bits Ice Cream and Passion Fruit Sorbet

Wanted to try the ice cream recipe that I had concocted some time back and finally got the chance to do it. Went to get the whipping cream on Wednesday and on the way bought five passion fruits for $2. It was kind of boring to just eat the passion fruits direct and so decided to try making sorbet with them.

The rambutan with pineapple bits ice cream didn’t turn out as expected. It didn’t have much rambutan taste, was a bit too sweet, was not smooth in texture and was a bit too thick. Probably because (1) I used canned rambutan instead of fresh ones; (2) I didn’t use enough rambutan; (3) I didn’t puree the rambutan enough and (4) I over-strained the rambutan puree of its juice.

Rambutan with Pineapple Bits Ice Cream

Ingredients:

200ml whipping cream 80g rambutan puree* 80g fine sugar

1 tbsp finely diced pineapple                                                      1/4 tsp corn flour

Method:

1.  Whisk whipping cream and corn flour till foamy for about 3 mins

2.  Add fine sugar in three batches and whisk the mixture after every addition

3.  Add rambutan puree* and whisk till well combined

4.  Pour mixture into a container of your choice and put into the freezer

5.  Remove from freezer after 2 hours to churn** with a fork

6.  Repeat step (5) for another two times, add in diced pineapple on final churn before freezing it overnight

* Use all the rambutan in the can and blend into puree. Drain away the extra juice.

** Try to churn the mixture in a whisking manner to try to incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible

The passion fruit sorbet, on the other hand, turned out pretty well. It had a nice yellow in colour and a very strong passion fruit taste. I was pretty proud of the sorbet so I decided to make an attempt at plating. Googled for ideas and found out that most fine dining restaurants actually serve their ice cream in the form of a quenelle and the results can be achieve by either using the traditional two spoons method or one spoon method.

Passion Fruit Sorbet

Ingredients:

128ml passion fruit juice*

225ml water

104g fine sugar

Method:

1.  Pour water and sugar into a pot, bring to boil then simmer for another 5 mins till sugar dissolve

2.  Remove sugar syrup from heat and stir in passion fruit juice till well combine

3.  Transfer to a container of your choice and set it aside to cool

4.  Once solution is cooled, put it into the freezer

5.  Take out after 45 mins to churn using a spoon and repeat this step for another 3 times

6.  Leave the mixture in the freezer overnight for it to firm

* Use about 5–6 passion fruits, dig out the seeds and blend into puree. Strain the puree to remove the finely crushed seeds.

** You can adjust the amount of sugar to suit your sweetness level by doing taste test in step 2.

I chose the one spoon method as it seemed to be easier but I was wrong. It took me quite a while to get the ice cream and sorbet to form the quenelle because the ice cream was not of soft-serve texture and the sorbet was a bit too flaky. The final masterpiece was passable. However, eating the ice cream and the sorbet together was surprisingly good because the sweetness of the ice cream complimented or should I say countered the sourness of the sorbet.

1 Aug 15 - Pulau Seringat, Lazarus Island, St. John's Island, Kusu Island

Read an article on island hopping back on 3 July 2015 and posted a FB status asking for interest. Didn’t really expect any response but my friends ML and KF came back with responses showing interest. Got really excited and started planning for the trip to be held on 1 August 2015. It only took me a few hours to complete my itinerary and research and I quickly sent the information to my friends. We then discussed the possibility of having a picnic and what food to bring. In the end, we decided that KF will bring fruits; ML will bring hotdogs, hotdog buns and chicken wings while I will bring potato chips and a big bottle of isotonic drink.

Got up early today around 7am and the sky looked cloudy. Messaged the other two ladies asking if they were already out of the house and ML replied saying she was half way to Marina South Pier on a bus while KF replied that she is still at home because she would be taking a cab. No one said anything about change of plan even though KF said it was drizzling and ML even said that it was raining. So I left the house around 7:30am and only managed to get to Marina South Pier (MSP) station at 8:30am because I didn’t know that the train that I got on to at Raffles Place ends at Marina Bay (MB) station instead of MSP station. So had to wait for another train at MB station at Platform B and found out that only alternate train that arrives at that platform goes to MSP station. Since I had missed one, I had to wait 12 minutes for the next.

Messaged the ladies and KF said that they will walk around to check-out the shops and also to see if they were able to get the ferry tickets first. By the time I got there, the ladies were in the midst of purchasing the tickets. We boarded the ferry at around 8:45am and waited for the ferry to leave at 9am. The sea was a little bit choppy and KF didn’t take her motion sickness pill. We got to St. John’s Island in 30 minutes time and a cat greeted us when we landed. We headed for the toilet first which was a 5 minutes’ walk towards the right from the jetty and we saw more cats. After that we walked back to the jetty and continued on the left of the jetty to get to Lazarus Island. Along the way, we joked, laughed and took photos. The sky cleared up a little and the weather was just right for outing.

We passed by the beach that was between Pulau Seringat and Lazarus Island but KF suggested that we continued to explore Pulau Seringat before returning to the beach for picnic. We saw a few private yachts and some people seem to be staying at a very private chalet of sort. We walked right to the tip of Pulau Seringat before U-turning back to the beach. There was a group of people doing canoeing at the beach, a group of youngsters taking wefie and blowing bubbles and a couple swimming in the sea. The beach wasn’t fantastic because of all the rubbish left behind by the beachgoers. The article I read said that there is no dustbin on the island but there was just one over at the beach. We could not find a good spot to sit down for picnic and ML suggested going to one of the few pavilions over at St. John’s Island for picnic.

Walked back and along the way, we thought we could settle down at one of the pavilions that were near the link between Lazarus Island and St. John’s Island but the place was full of ants. So we continued to walk and we were back to the area near the jetty. It was already about 11:15am then. Decided to settle down on one of the many picnic tables there and we started to lay out our food. I happened to have a copy of newspaper and so used that the lined the table and placed our food on top. Two black cats were walking around us and we had to be mindful in case they tried to jump up the table. One of the cats simply lay on the ground behind the bench that KF and I were sitting while the other was walking around ML which made her very afraid. It was then that I found out that ML is afraid of cats. We took photos of the food before starting to eat. ML was very well prepared; she brought three disposable gloves for eating chicken wings while KF brought disposable forks for eating the fruits.

We ate and talked and joked while the two cats surrounded us. Then another group of people came along to settle at a picnic table not far from us and the cat that was lying on the ground decided to walk to them while the other cat stayed put. This cat that stayed got bolder and jumped onto the bench that KF and I were sitting and KF nudged the cat back to the ground. ML was really scared and so KF had to lure the cat away with a chicken wing bones. The cat moved away to chew on the bones but was back after some minutes. There was once it even jumped up the bench beside ML and it made her gave out a small scream. Think we threw quite a number of bones for the cat while we were there. We were done around 12 noon and we packed up before visiting the toilet again. After that, we headed back to the jetty to wait for the 12:45pm ferry to Kusu Island.

The ferry took around 15 minutes to reach Kusu Island and we walked around the temple before taking the stairs to see the Kusu Kramats. Climbed back down and we went to the beach where we had some fun on the sand. Then KF and I got bolder and climbed up a breakwater to have our photos taken by ML. After the exploring, it was still early for the 2:30pm ferry back to the mainland so we rested under one of the pavilions and started to take wefies using the application called Cam Me which is only available in Apple Store. So using ML’s phone, we took quite a number of wefies before finally boarding the ferry back to mainland.

Then we decided to check-out the Singapore Maritime Gallery (SMG) which was on level 2 of the Cruise Centre. The SMG was having the Jubilee celebration and visitors who check-in on FB will get some freebies. So the three of us quickly whipped out our phones and started checking-in. We got the freebies and then went on to see the exhibits in SMG. It didn’t take us very long to finish and by then it was about 3:45pm. After some discussions, we decided to head over to Orchard area, Somerset station to see what to eat over there. At first, ML suggested Korean buffet but later changed her mind to Japanese buffet. She brought us to the place and I realised that it was actually Kiseki, the Japanese buffet place and my nephew frequent. Tried to make reservation but was told the place was fully booked. However, they do entertain walk-in customer but will have to be the first few in the queue starting at 5:30pm.

Walked around the building and spent some time at Tokyu Hand before taking the lift up to the restaurant. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, there was already a long queue in front of the restaurant. So in the end, we decided to settle dinner over at Shabu Sai which was two shops away. Dinner was good and we ended the day around 7+pm and we headed separate ways to go home.

Thoughts: The beach between Pulau Seringat and Lazarus Island was not fantastic. We didn’t explore Lazarus Island properly; perhaps the lagoon at the other end of Lazarus Island may be better. Kusu Island was very windy amongst all the islands. Despite the fact that we didn’t really see a lot of sights, we enjoyed ourselves very much because of each other’s company. Hope we get to do this (get together) often. =)

31 May 15 (Sun) – Lemongrass Granita

Since it is a long weekend and the weather has been very brutal lately, I decided to make dessert. Was considering either rambutan ice cream or lemongrass sorbet and in the end, lemongrass sorbet wins. Found a recipe by Epicurious on minted lemongrass sorbet and try it out. As I do not have mint, I omitted that ingredient, plus this time round I remember to churn it every 45 minutes before freezing overnight.

---------------- Edited on 2 Jun 2015 ----------------

Tasted the sorbet yesterday but the texture did not look like sorbet. Instead, it looked more like granita. Pondered upon it and came up with a couple of theories, either it was due to the addition of honey or because the base syrup was not thick enough or it was the way I churn it. Perhaps next round I should try to use real fruit juice in the making of sorbet and churn it using a whisk instead of a fork. Anyway, it was still refreshing especially when taken during the brutal hot weather.

Brought two cups to office for CC and TYY to try. CC told me that it was very fragrant; she likes it a lot because the sweetness was just right. She suggested that perhaps next time I can add a zest of lemon to give it a zing. Sounds good. I ate it with some pomegranate seeds yesterday and it was really good because the sour pomegranate seeds complemented the sweetness of the granita. So I guess the idea is to have a bit of sourish taste within the sweetness.

TYY said overall it's a bit too sweet for her liking. She then gave two suggestions to balance the sweetness. 1. Add something sour (e.g. lime) or 2. Boil and heat the sugar a bit before dissolving it, so that the caramelisation comes out more, giving it an earthier sweetness. She also commented that the texture of the ice is actually very good, it melts immediately in the mouth and that it doesn't stay as a clump of ice

Well… At least an improvement from the last chrysanthemum sorbet or should I say granita. =)

8 May 15 – Day 8 (Myeongdong, Incheon International Airport)

We woke up slightly later since not much was planned for the day, given that we had a flight to catch in the late afternoon. Since the check-out time was 11am so suggested to SWT that we check-out on the way out in the morning so won’t have to rush back to do check-out. Went out after 9am, left the luggage in the room beside the reception counter and walked around Myeongdong area. Popped into a minimart and I bought more seaweed and a cheap bottle of green tea powder. Headed back about 11+am because SWT’s Iphone blackout suddenly and could not be switched on. Back at K-pop II, she opened her luggage to take out the cable to try charging the phone using the computer in front of the reception counter. Nothing happened. So used the computer to google for a solution and found one that worked. While she was meddling with her phone, I took out my luggage to keep my purchases. After she was done and kept her cable back, we sat around with our luggage at the side before finally moving off to take the airport limousine bus near Sejong Hotel. We managed to catch the 12:10pm bus and paid W9,000 instead of the usual W10,000 per person because we printed out the discount voucher from Asiana website.

Reached Incheon International Airport before 1pm and went to do self-check-in with the help of a ground staff. As SWT had to do the tax-refund on her foot peeling masks purchase, she could not check-in her carton box. Went to the counter next to row J to get the stamp from the custom officer and then headed back to Asiana counter to check-in her carton box. Then went through the immigration counter and went to find the place where SWT was supposed to get her tax-refund cash back. Finally she got her cash and while walking to look for my lunch, we saw the parade of the Royal Family and tourists were taking photos. We took photos and managed to get a photo taken with the Royal Family too before going up to the foodcourt where I had my lunch close to 3pm. After done eating, walked around the shops near the boarding gate but got nothing. Sat to wait for time to board at 3:50pm and the plane took off at 4:40pm.

Thought: This whole 9D8N trip to Busan and Seoul with SWT was not as good as I had expected it to be. I had planned a lot of food to try and was counting on her to help share the food; unfortunately, she fell sick from day 3. Maybe I am used to solo traveling, traveling with another companion on DIY trips seem kind of restricted because I cannot rearrange the itinerary as I deem fit or do things at my own pace. Go where I like, see what I like, eat what I like, when I like.

This is my first trip to Busan and my impression is that it is not as tourist-friendly as Seoul. Perhaps I had only visited a very limited area in Busan hence I had the impression that it is not as developed as Seoul. However, because Busan is near the sea, therefore it seems like there are a lot of tourists’ sights near the sea. The locals there speak mainly Korean but they were really very helpful, young and old. One thing for sure though, the seafood was seriously fresh and great! It was really regrettable that I did not get to spend more time in Busan. Will I go back again? Definitely yes! And I will make sure that I fly there direct and spend the entire trip in Busan.

Comparatively, like I said before, Seoul is not difficult to walk on own. However, I was not as prepared as I was back in 2012 and I did not polish up my already limited Korean vocabulary. So whenever the locals speak, the words sound familiar yet I could not recall the meaning of some words. As shops in Seoul cater more and more to the Chinese, most of the locals speak fairly good Mandarin. When they see Asian with relatively fair skin, they start talking in Mandarin. In order to differentiate ourselves, SWT insisted on using English, unless she really needs to buy something and needs the other party to understand her. Perhaps I was influenced by her, I felt uncomfortable using my very limited Korean vocabulary. Back in 2012, I remembered saying “Gamsahamnida” on a few occasions which made the sellers very happy.

Back then in 2012, Wi-Fi connections are plenty in a lot of areas and I was able to whatsapp little big sis every now and then. I could even connect to Olleh network without registering with them. But this time round, most of the Wi-Fi connections require registration. The bonus for this trip was that we happened to be in Seoul during the Korean Royal Palace Culture Festival week hence were able to participate in some of the activities. Will I go back to Seoul again? Maybe… but most likely to cover the suburbs and doing day trips to the outskirt.

7 May 15 – Day 7 (Gyeongdong Market, Bongeunsa Temple, COEX Mall, Myeongdong)

Whatsapped little big sis and she suggested that SWT should try pack her stuff in a carton box so that she could check-in the box. We move out before 9am and reached the designated station. As we did not have any map of the area or of the Gyeongdong market, we just assumed that we are in the area of the market since we saw some stalls selling fresh vegetables and stuff. Walked straight down and saw shops selling various kinds of rice cakes. One particular shop stood out because it was selling kimchi jars, clear plastic containers and medicinal glass jars of various sizes. We then saw other shops selling oriental herbs, dried goods like nuts, various edible powders and stalls lining opposite the shops selling things such as anchovies, simple street food, fruits and vegetables.

Crossed over to another section that sells all sorts of ginsengs, another section sells all sorts of fresh vegetables; another section sells all the fresh seafood and another section sells all the fresh fruits. All the food stuff were very huge in size compared to those we usually see back home. A lot of interesting stuff to see but not to buy. I was pretty tempted to get some ginsengs but did not know how to communicate in Korean because most if not all the sellers were either uncle or aunty. Across the street we saw another big, sheltered (wet) market. Think we did not cover the whole Gyeongdong Market completely because we were quite lost as to where we had covered and not. Anyway, it was a good experience and we moved back to the subway station to take the subway to our next destination.

Got to COEX Mall and recalled that the Bongeunsa Temple is towards the north side of the mall so walk the length of it to get to the temple. By the time we got there, it was already 11+am. SWT went to the information booth to check on the temple experience program while I took some photos near the entrance. It was then I realized that today was Thursday and temple experience program is available to foreigners on Thursday from 2pm to 4:30pm. According to the volunteer there, the temple experience program consists of temple tour, meditation session, lotus flower making session and tea ceremony session. In addition, participants would receive souvenirs. SWT asked what kind of meditation would be conducted and was told the basic ones because the program is targeted for those with no meditation experience. SWT was keen even though she has basic meditation experiences.

Since it was still some time before 2pm, she had time to consider and we walked around the temple on our own to take photos. Just like back in Haedong Yonggung Temple, we saw small piles of stones around. I recalled the tour guide back in my first Korea trip in 2010 saying that this is some form of wishing. So I did a small pile of three stones myself and took photo of it, just for fun. Then we saw a pavilion with a structure that has water flowing out, something similar to one we saw back in Haedong Yonggung Temple but instead of natural spring, the water for this one seems to come from a water hose. Walked around some more and found the canteen but lunch was over and hence no lunch for me. Covered most of the temple and asked the volunteer near the entrance where to get lunch nearby. We were told that there is a Korean restaurant just left side of the temple. SWT was still unable to eat proper meal so we had to hunt for food that she can eat before the temple experience program.

Popped into a couple of café nearby and finally settled in Coffine Gurunaru where she had plain bagel and I had shrimp & tuna panini sandwich. It was yummy with the crunchy shrimps and all. While eating, told her that I would join the temple experience program as well since I did not get to do that during my 2012 trip. I also suggested to her that perhaps she could try asking the receptionist at K-pop II if they have any carton boxes to spare for her to pack her purchases. Returned to the temple after lunch, close to 2pm and did the registration where we were given a tag each with number and I was number four. While waiting around, more foreigners came to register for the program and we ended up with a group of 12 females, consisting of two from Singapore, two from Macau, two from Korea, four from France, one from Poland and one from US. We started the temple tour with a volunteer at 2pm. She was very sincere in spreading the goodness of Buddhism and even made a few good points like how we should see people as they are and not as how they should be.

Guessed she noticed that some of us seemed bored and also she noticed that she was running out of time, therefore she had to cut short the tour and we had to sort of run to the mediation center where our next activity, lotus flower making session, was. Removed our shoes, left our belongings next to the clothe rack where some of us hung up our outerwear. I asked the volunteer if it was ok for me to remove my sweater because I was in a sleeveless tee. She said ok to me but not to the other lady from France who wore a spaghetti straps top. Entered a room and we sat on the floor along a long table with participants facing each other. A volunteer who was taking photos of the program the whole time sat opposite me. Another volunteer explained to us how to make the paper lotus flower before we tried it ourselves. While I was working on my paper lotus flower, the volunteer who sat opposite me started asking me questions such as where I was from, whether I am a Buddhist, whether I believe in Buddhism, etc. When we were about to finish our flowers, the volunteer who taught us the steps, told us that we could get a plastic box and a paper bag for the flowers with a donation of W1,000. At the back of my mind, I had already decided that I was not going to bring back the flower so did not get the box and the bag.

We were then led out of the room to another room for the meditation session and on the way there, we dropped our flowers next to our belongings beside the clothe rack. We sat down on a cushion each and the nun who was our instructor told us to try to cross our legs such that our feet lay on the thighs so that it was in the lotus flower position. Ok, that was tough. I only managed half the flower like the lady from US who had prior mediation experience. The nun told us to close our eyes, relax, and breathe in and out per her instructions. Unfortunately, I could not breathe per her pace due to my uncomfortable position. Finally the session was over and we were ushered to the next location elsewhere in the temple for the tea ceremony. As I was too comfortable in my sleeveless top that I forgot to take my sweater. Fortunately I remembered it while walking down from the center and so quickly rushed back to take. After that, SWT and I walked briskly to catch up with the rest of the group.

Reached the next location, sat down on a cushion and the same nun appeared. She was also the demonstrator for the tea ceremony. She explained the differences between black tea and green tea and that one can brew the green tea leaves for a few times before discarding. The lady from Poland was surprised with this fact because she always discards the tea leaves after one brew. From the tea ceremony, I learnt that the best temperature to make tea is around 60-70 degree Celsius. The nun made enough tea for the first row and the rows behind were handed tea and snacks by the other volunteers in the room. After the session was over, souvenirs such as a beaded bracelet, a pen, a luggage tag and a brochure on temple experience were given out to all the participants. Told SWT that I intend to leave the paper lotus flower in the temple and so we took photos of the flowers before bringing them to a statue near the entrance of the temple.

Left the temple around 4+pm and we walked back to COEX Mall. The ground floor and above seemed to be convention centers while the basements are for shops. Walked around the basements, popped into shops randomly without any proper sequence. Not sure if we covered most of the shops and we left the place during the rush hours of 6+pm. Reached Myeongdong station and tried to find a machine to refund our T-money. Learnt from a local that there was no refund for it. The last round I did not do the refund because I intended to pass it to Min for her Korea trip. Headed to Myeongdong area and we walked around since it was the last night of our stay. One of the items on my shopping list was foot spray and it was interesting how those beauty shops sell products for the hair, face, body, all except for the feet. In the end, I went to check out The Face Shop since they were selling foot peeling masks. Sure enough, they sell foot spray and it was on offer price hence no samples were given for my purchase. Anyway, next thing was to look for seaweed and I bought a pack of nine packets at W10,000 from a street vendor. Not the best deal around. While walking around, we saw a lot of carton boxes but they were either soiled or packed up by people.

Walked some more to see what to eat for dinner and we randomly popped into a shop that sells Japanese cuisine located at the edge of Myeongdong area. It was a small, cozy shop with two customers inside. We sat down, flipped through the menu and SWT decided on a bowl of udon while I opted for the pork cutlet rice. The food was great; the pork cutlet was crispy on the outside while juicy and tender on the inside. Finished all my food clean and took a photo of the shop before walking back to K-pop II. Went to level four to check on the carton box but the receptionist said they do not have. As we saw some flatten boxes outside the building, we went back down so that SWT could quickly grab one and head back up. Went back to level four to ask for masking tape and marker before heading back to our room. Showered, packed and whatsapped little big sis. She asked why I did not buy some ginsengs from the Gyeongdong Market and told her that communication was a problem, plus not sure if the aunties there are willing to sell in small quantity. While I was comfortably watching tv on my bed, SWT was busy doing her packing and in the end, she stuff all the foot peeling masks, the coin pouches and two packs of the kelp snacks into the carton box. Firmed up the timing to take the airport limousine bus with SWT before sleeping.

Thoughts: Gyeongdong Market was a good experience and I would recommend people to go before it gets crowded with tourists. And I think it would be best to go in the early part of the trip so one can stock up some fresh fruits for the rest of the stay. Also it is a good place to stock up or find ingredients that one cannot find back home. Much was said about Bongeunsa Temple but personally I did not find anything interesting about it. Perhaps it was because I am not into Buddhism or because it was not as grand as the Haedong Yonggung Temple in Busan. The 2.5 hour of temple experience was not enough to really experience temple life. Perhaps a temple stay would be better. COEX Mall was something similar to our Suntec Conventional Center but lesser shops. Guessed it would have been interesting to visit the aquarium and the Kimchi Museum.