Firewood Pizzas

Manila - Lunch we had AMICI Firewood pizzas and it was fresh and delicious.   I had spaghetti vogole and we shared a Margherita Pizza - it was yummy!

Portable Firewood Pizza

Another view of the Portable Firewood Pizza

Whilst visiting one of my customers, we had to cross a pedestrian bridge.   Crossing the pedestrian bridge you have to be carefull too...look what I mean.

The high electrical tension cables across the

pedestrian bridge

That's Joe getting electrocuted....

Dinner was at their famous seafood near the waterfront - Robbie's Seafood Restaurant @ Pasay .   My first taste with this Filippino famous dish - Sinigang - this is a soup chracterized by its sour flavor most often associated with tamarind. I like tamarind and therefore this dish was delicious to me.  This Sinigang was cooked with fish and vegetables like tomatoes.

En Route to Manila

Manila - Joe and I had to do a transit in Singapore en-route to Manila - waited 2 hrs before our flight departed on time at 2:10pm and arrived at 3:45pm.   Get the taxi from the taxi counter just outside the airport - because I carried a hard case suitcase, Joe will sit with this 'passenger' at the back seat.

Our Hotel was Mandarin Oriental Manila - a 5-star hotel located in Makati.  There was the usual baggage checks and metal detectors in front of the hotel.   What upset me was that Joe had an upgraded room to the Executive floor whilst I was relegated to the 7th floor.  The executive floors starts from 15th floor and above and the lounge was at 17th floor.   When I reached the 17th floor, I complaint of the mistreatment and was given an executive floor on the 15th floor.   Both of us were reminded that no executive floor privileges will be accorded to us just the special room at the executive floors.   But this was subsequently revised with full privileges accorded to us - which in actual fact - we did not step into the executive floor throughout our stay there.

We went to Green Belt for dinner.   Green Belt is an area in Makati for Shopping and good class dinning.   There were many restaurants to choose from and we finally chose a restaurant on the 3rd Floor @ Greenbelt 3 - W The Big Grill.  As the weather was hot, and sitting outside is also smoking area, we decided to sit inside but Oh! no...the music was so loud.   It is like a disco and you have to shout to each other, so we decided to move outside to dine.

We ordered
- Baby Back Ribs and was expected Tony Romas type of baby back ribs but out came a thick slab of ribs with fats making half of the Baby Back Ribs.   It was tasty but I had to throw away all the fats.  
- Lamb Shoulder Steak - It was just a thin slice of mutton steak - tasty but simple.
- Tokwat Lechon - Toh Fu with fried Pork (Lechon) - a nice dish.

They also had a mechanised rodeo inside the restaurant but you had to sign a letter that relinquish the restaurant of all responsibilities.

Verdict:  No worth a second visit.

We walk to Havana Cafe for some snacks and drinks...

Indian Fare

Petaling Jaya - It was a full day of Seminar at Hotel Boulevard.  For dinner, we hankered for some spicy Indian fare and the most famous was

Hilton KL Sentral

Kuala Lumpur - My wife tried to book the taxi today and to no avail and so she said go down and hail the taxi from the main road of which I manage to get one to reach the airport on time.  The plane arrived on time - via the KLIA and on arrival at Sentral station it was nice to be met by the concierge of the Hotel which had a Hotel shuttle bus and save me time lugging the bags pass escalators, road crossing and lifts.   The shuttle bus took me straight to the Lobby of the Hilton KL.

Hilton KL is not my ususal hotel and I stayed becaue it is nearer to the seminar in Mid-Valley.   The service at Hilton KL is not very good and the personnel are very curt in their response.   I would stay at PJ Hilton Hotel as it is a much friendly hotel and the staff knows me well.

Lunch was at the Hotel restaurant and the buffet spread was wide @ RM99 per head.  For that price it would be worth going out for lunch....

But the view from the executive lounge on the 33th floor is spectacular - similiar so from the window of my room.

Left side view from the 33rd Floor @ Executive Lounge

Centre view from the 33rd Floor

Centre view from the 33rd Floor

Right side view from the 33rd floor

Dinner we have seafood and it was good called 'Panti Seafood'.

After Dinner, we went for some Durian as it is the season.    The Durian stall is called 'Donald' and near SS2 Petaling Jaya - tried the Top Durian "Mow San Huang' and also the new breed 'D4'.

Art of present wrapping...

Tokyo - I needed to buy shopping vouchers and so Terry accompanied me to Takashimaya down in Ginza.  Took the subway and arrived 10 minutes before openning time of 10am.   There were already people waiting outside the departmental store. 

Exactly at 10am, the store was open and we were greeted with a bow of 'welcome' - the purchase of the shopping vouchers was on the 5th floor.   It was such a professional experience and meticulously done the Japanese way. 

You have a choice of either choosing just Takashimaya shoppinng vouchers of a Nationwide shopping voucher.   I chose the Nationwide shopping vouchers because it can be used at all the major departmental stores - Takashimaya, Tokyu, and etc..

For Dinner, we are back at Ginza and it was a very delicious meal.  The menu was very unique - laid out in a long row of paper.

The restaurant menu

A dish of sashimi

Baked seasonal fish

My 26th trip to Tokyo

Tokyo - I managed to catch 2 movies - 'Clash of the Titans' (this is a remake of the older movie) AND 'Green Zone' (one of my favourite actor - Matt Damon).   I also managed to finish watching 'Ghost Writer'.

 
 There was such a long queue at the immigration area - the queue was snaking over 9 rows of 20 people - it took nearly 40 mins to reach the immigration officer whom had to take a photograph and then finger print the 2 index fingers.

The Airport bus came on time at 5.50pm and took about 1hr 10 mins to TCAT, from there I took a taxi to my Hotel - Hotel East 21.

I was tossing between a Sushi restaurant and a Tonkatsu restaurant - The pig won!! It was a nice meal...the website for the Tonkatsu restaurant is www.r-wako.com

Travel with a peace of mind

Singapore - Having adequate tavel insurance is vital when overseas because a host of unforeseen situations can arise, such as flight delays or loss of your luggage.  Also overseas medical expenses can be huge and should a serious injury arise during the trip, you then need not fret about hefty medical bills.

I remember recently on a flight from Sydney to Melbourne on Qantas, and my baggage was delayed for 12 hrs - fortunately I had travel insurance and it was reimbursed.   But the trouble of waiting anxiously for the baggage to arrival after numerous promises by Qantas that it will be 2hrs, 3hrs and it will be arriving soon...


It is affordable to buy travel insurance in Singapore but travellers should shop around to find a policy that meets your need. 

Checklist:
1.   Don't wait until the last minue.   Buy your travel insurance early, preferably right after booking the trip.

2.  Buy what you need.   It is important to ensure that the benefits of the plan are adequate to meet your needs, with better benefits offered at a higher permiums.    If your insurance does not cover taking part in certain hazardous activities such as mountaineering, winter sports and underwater activities - get appropriate coverage.

3.  Single trip or annual trip.  If you travel alot, an annual trip policy may be the best value.   Also, a single trip usually covers about 6 months or less, while any trip taken using an annual plan will not be covered if it exceeds about 3 months.

4.  Note the definition of 'child'.  Family policies cover your children as well, but the definition of children may differ across insurers. 

5.  Automatic extension of coverage.  With the emergence of the H1N1 flu virus and recent spate of natural disasters, policy holders can get stuck overseas for much longer than intended owing to transport delays or from being quarantined.  Therefore, it is desirable that a policyholder 's travel insurer is wlling to extend teh period of coverage automatically, in certain circumstances, without extra premiums.

6.  Check what is not included.  A cheap travel insurance policy may seem like a good bargain, but make sure you go through the policy details carefully to ensure that important coverage is not omitted.

7.  Premium discount.   If you are travelling in a group, you my want to consider consolidating the purchases to be entitled to some cost-savings.

8.   Keep your receipts and paperwork.  If you should have to file a claim, receipts and documentation will make the process much easier and more successful.

9.  Familiarise yourself with the claims process.  if you understand the process, it is very easy to file a travel insurance claim.

10.  Emergency assistance phone number.  It is common for travel insurance policies to include worldwide 24-hr emergency assistance providing various emergency services around the clock.  Save the emergency assistance contact number and your policy number in your mobile phone so you do not have to scramble to look fro that insurance certificate in the event of an emergency.

I also wrote a similiar article - http://countrytravel.blogspot.com/2007/05/travel-health-insurance-dont-leave-home.html

Ref: The Sunday Times Dec, 6 2009