Bound for Bali

Bali - The tropical paradise of Indonesia and only 2 1/2 hrs away from Singapore. When it comes to tropical gateways. Bali (sometimes called Island of the Gods) is definitely a prime destination. This place is briming with thousands of temples, sparkling beaches and endless shopping experiences. The SQ flight to Bali was crowded mostly Caucasian tourists- only a handful of Singaporeans on board the flight. This will be my 2nd trip to Bali (May 1996), my first was organizing a company sales conference and was held on Sheraton Laguna Resort on Nuasa Dua. Upon arrival, many tourist were queuing up at the VISA-on-arrival. Indonesia has a Visa-on-arrival for quite a number of countries, whereby VISAs are issued when you can arrive in Bali. Singapore passport holders and ASEAN members do not need a VISA to enter Indonesia. I zipped through immigration and was out of the departure hall in just under 30 minutes - this was also a surprise to the driver that was waiting to pick me up. He said that his average waiting time is 1-1/2 hrs. My hotel stay is Hard Rock Cafe Hotel in Kuta, it takes about 20 minutes to reach the Hotel but today the roads was crowded leading up to Kuta because of the 1st Asian Sea Games held around Bali beaches. The stretch of road along Kuta was jammed with people and cars. It was so crowded. I have heard so much rave reviews about Hard Rock Hotel and it is all true. The greetings from the front desk were sincere and welcoming. It was a very different atmosphere and once in your life experience to stay in a Hard Rock Hotel. The hotel compound is large and it took me a while to orientate myself. The room number does not correspond to the floor - room 4008 is on the ground floor - strange! Shopping is all around Kuta and a short distance walk from Hard Rock Hotel. I walked to Kuta Square and Kartika Discovery Mall (the largest Shopping Mall in Bali).

Yummy Seafood!

Seoul - The morning and afternoon were filled with meetings. Evening dinner was memorable - Bryan took YJ and I to a quaint seafood restaurant. This restaurant serves a type of raw fish (sashimi) that I had never hadeaten before - the fish is Jeon-eo (Gizzard Shah). This fish is only available around Autumn (October or November). It is uniquely sliced with the bones - the bones are fine, you can eat the whole slice of Jeon-eo. After a few slices of this Jeon-eo sashimi, I just could stop - it was delicious. You can dipped the Jeon-eo sashimi in wasabi sauce, and wrapped the fish in nice Korean lettuce - uhmm! Ba-shita..

The fish is good either as sashimi or in hot-peppered style, mixed with various vegetables and spices. Also popular is to grill your gizzard shad sprinkled with rough salt and take it with old kimchi.

Another nice dish is live prawns baked in natural salt - (called Dae-ha in Korean). The live prawns is slowly baked live and when cooked it was so delicious.

Natural Salt is different from Refined Table Salt. Unrefined sea salt contain 98.0 % NaCl (sodium-chloride) and up to 2.0% other minerals (salts) : Epsom salts and other Magnesium salts, Calcium salts, Potassium (Kalium) salts, Manganese salts, Phosphorus salts, Iodine salts, .. all together over 100 minerals composed of 80 chemical elements. Refined salt (Table Salt) is 99.9% NaCl (sodium-chloride), (chemical as clean as Heroin or White Sugar) . It almost always contain additives, like 0.01% of Potassium-Iodide (added to the salt to avoid Iodine deficiency disease of thyroid gland), Sugar (added to stabilize Iodine and as anti-caking chemical), Aluminum silicate.

Hiking up Buk-han San - North Korea Mountain

Seoul - The moment I have been waiting for...climbing one of Seoul's popular mountain peak, Buk-han san - strangely means 'North Korea Mountain'. I did not have time to buy a mountain boots so had to do a quick shopping. I bought my mountain boots at Bang Bang departmental store - reasonable at W29,000 discounted from W69,000. Korea is going through tough economic times and there are heavily discounted sales everywhere.

Young Jin drove his car to pick up Kevin at a subway station and off we went to his apartment to drop off my luggages. I check out of Grand Hilton Hotel and will check-into Ramada Seoul Hotel in the evening.

Reach the base of the Buk-han San in no time, parked the car and off we make our trek up the mountain. Unlike my previous trek up Malaysian mountain (Mt. Ophir), this Korea mountain is very rocky with steep climb up the slope - at times 45 degrees elevation. I had to stop many times going up the mountain to rest - it was very hard work and tiring. The mountain boots help but not my jeans - should have worn a loose pants so that I can stretch my leg further going up. At times, my leg just wanted to buckle and give way - it was really tiring going up. But we made it, the view from the mountain was spectacular - it is no wonder Koreans love their mountains and climb hours to reach the peak (in Korean called Baek-woon dae) at the height of 836.5m. It is Autumn, the colours of the leaves were in radiant colours of red, amber, yellow, green and brown. It was a beautiful sight to behold!

Young Jin, Kevin and Ron

We are at the Peak of the mountain, and it took us 3.5 hrs to reach this peak and another 1.5hrs to get down. Climbing down the mountain is easier but more dangerous because of the sharp edges of the rocks - just need to be alert always.

We had lunch up on mountain peak on a gentle slope - JY prepared his hand-made sushi-roll along with small tomatoes, grapes and pickle. It was really delicious and the setting was perfect - the mountain view, the wind, the sight of clounds and the temperature of about 15 degrees with a sushi-roll in your mouth! The Peak is crowded with people but I understand that over the weekend- it is too crowded.

This is the Peak, with the Korean flag....

That's me back to the base of the Mountain (that is in the background). What i notice is that there were many elderly climbers, it was really tough for me but to see so many elderly climbers is enlightening. This have made me conscious of being healthy, moderate eating and always exercising.

Arrive in time for the Big climb!

Seoul - Arrive and took the Limo bus 602-xx to Grand Hilton Hotel. This is my 2nd time staying at this hotel. This is the only good class hotel in this part of Seoul (which is the North of Seoul). The Limo Bus cannot speak much English and not the friendly sort. I thought I heard the recorded announcement that Grand Hilton Hotel will be the next stop, so I alighted but found out from the Limo driver that it is the next stop - he was not too pleased.

When I take the Limo Bus going towards Samsung-dong area (like Renanissance Seoul Hotel or Ramada Seoul Hotel), the driver can speak a little English and much friendly and courteous because the Limo bus belongs to KAL (Korea Air Line).

Upon arrival as usual, Grand Hilton Hotel has a shuttle van waiting to bring me up the little slop for checking-in. I rested and had my own dinner.

Rice eaten by half the world!

Singapore - Recently came across an article about rice and it was so fascinating to find so many varieties of it.
1. Jasmine Rice - Singapore's favourite rice, also know as 'Thai fragrance rice or Thai Basmati rice', this long grain white rice has a subtle floral fragrance. There is also a brown variety. Jasmine rice is originally from Thailand. This is used in our all-time favourite Singapore Hainanese Chicken rice.

2. Basmati Rice - A long-grain with a distinct fragrance that goes well with Indian food. Basmati means 'The fragrance one' in Sanskrit. Also 2 varities - white and brown Basmati rice. This is used in our all-time favourite too 'Brani chicken/mutton rice'.

3. Black Glutinous Rice - Also known as 'Pulut Hitam'. It's steamed and pressed into sweet cakes, or cooked like a porridge and sweeted with palm sugar. Served with coconut milk drizzled over it.

4. Long Glutinous Rice - Thinner and more opaque than short glutinous rice, it's used to make Chinese rice dumplings 'bak chang'. It's also used to make sweet kuih.

5. Risotto Rice - This absorbs plenty of water without getting mushy. Varieties include arborio (the best), carnaroli and vialone nano.

6. Parboiled Rice - Also known as 'converted rice', it combines the nutrients of brown rice and soft, fast-cooking white rice. Rice is steamed before husking, so grains absorb nutrients from the husk.

7. Wild Rice - This is actually grass seed, not rice. But it's more nutritious, with a higher protein content and a pronounced nutty flavour. This expensive grain goes well with poultry but takes longer to cook.