Beatiful Cape Town :)

Finally~ my super long over due Cape town trip!
Moi was there during Valentine's day (4months back to be more precise).
The whole place is so beautiful and gorgeous. It's a pity Tom wasn't there by my side.

In fact, i'm contemplating making Cape Town one of THE PLACE to visit for honeymoon!!
Rather than the overly common place like Paris or NY etc. Nothing against these places really.
I LOVE Paris "READ: LV". I LOVE NY!!!

But MOI wanna go somewhere Different. And Cape Town is that!
TOTALLY!!

On the first day, we head down to the really famous Victoria & Alfred Waterfront (V&A) which is built on top of part of the docks of the Port of Cape Town. It is one of the city's most popular shopping venues, with several hundred shops and eateries. V&A with the table mountain in the backdrop.
It was such a pity we couldn't go up to the table mountain. The weather was fantastic when we arrive. Little did we know that the next day will be raining and overcast.
Oh well~
Lunch was at this fantastic restaurant (cant rem the name) where the waitress showed us the array of seafood available.
The lobster is humongous BUT so is the price!!
If you are the more adventurous kind, they have a selection of South African Game Meat as well. wildebeest meat anyone?
Moi opt for their Grain fed karan beef which was way too tough for my liking
(seriously hope it was beef and not like some wild animal meat) *gaspz*
We ordered a nice bottle of South African wine recommended by the restaurant sommelier
from wikipedia: Pinotage is a red wine grape that is South Africa's signature variety. It was bred there in 1925 as a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut Appetisers!Walking around V&A, we passed many interesting shops selling African art & handicraft, like these beautiful hand painted ostrich eggsThe next morning, we woke up to find it was drizzling outside. Nevertheless, that didn't dampen our spirit to start exploring Cape Town!

Our first stop.
Tour guide mentioned that on a good day, this is the perfect stop to take a photo EXCEPT it's not a good day at all. The sky looks gloomy & overcast and the table mountain is being covered in clouds!
Bleah~

GOD! we need some sunlight to take pretty pictures.....pleaseeeeeeeInstead of making the slight drizzle disappear, the sky gets darker and darker.
Can't rem where this picture was taken. Sorry for being so vague about these places cos it was like months back and my memory ain't so good.
Our next stop was to Hout bay where we took a ferry out to see Cape fur seals on the seal island. The Cape fur seals colony The boat ride was super rocky due to the large waves and the rain makes it even worse.
We found this seal who prefer to live with his human friend.
His human friend get the money and the seal gets all the food he wants.
(you have to give some "tips" to take a picture with the seal)
A fantastic partnership EXCEPT that the seal is getting way too fat from all the excessive eating
and he sure STINK as hell! -_-
Next, we took a beautiful and scenic ride to the world famous Chapman's Peak Drive which is carved out of the mountainside and leads towards Noordhoek and onwards to Cape Point.This is another of the "i cant rem where i took this" photo.
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa.
We had to wait like 10mins just to take a picture at the signboard.
It's probably the most famous signboard in Cape town!The massive waves along the Atlantic coast It's like another 20mins ride to reach Cape Point.
Thank god the sky starting to clear up and by the time we got to Cape Point, It was SUNNY!!!!

So happy :)

I'm not sure if u rem the final season of Amazing race Asia (which 2 Singaporeans guys won btw) One part of the final race lead them through Cape Point. Instead of going up to the lighthouse to look for the clues, these two guys actually went down the slope (very very far down) where obviously they couldn't ANYTHING.
Anyway, i rem watching that final leg of the leg and going like "OMG!! i was there in Cape Point a few weeks ago!!!"There's two way to go up to the lighthouse. You could either walk up or take the cable.
We chose the latter of cos :)
panoramic view from the lighthouseBtw, the two guys in amazing race actually went all the way down to the edge
Saw this direction signboard and there you go, Singapore is on it!
Every time i come across these direction signboard, there's bound to be Singapore on it!
IM TOTALLY SERIOUS!! Be it Copenhagen, Zurich, Paris, London etc
Is there like some kind of conspiracy going on?
We stopped by an ostrich farm. It's a male ostrich.
Trust me.Our last stop was to Boulders Beach. It is a popular tourist stop because of a colony of African Penguins which settled there in 1982.
Although set in the midst of a residential area, it is one of the few sites where this vulnerable bird can be observed at close range, wandering freely in a protected natural environment.Cute signboard!
The owl could really turn its head by almost 360degrees!

That's the end of my Cape Town trip! Even though we didn't get to go up the table mountain (due to bad weather), the rest of Cape town is just as beautiful and spectacular!!! It's a pity our stay were so short there. Remember to bring along an umbrella and a jacket eventhough it's like summer. The tour guide mentioned that the weather in Cape Town can be unpredictable and you might get all four seasons in one day.

Hope to get a chance to visit Cape Town again...

Abu Dhabi

My first view of Abu Dhabi! The super interesting airport design..
The heat hit us when we exited the airport. Even though it's almost evening time, the temperature was hovering around 40degrees!!
All of us were perspiring like hell when we reached our bus
Phew~Know what this kind of tree is this?
(no, its not a coconut tree)
It's a Dates palm~~
There's tons and tons of these Dates palms along the streets of Abu Dhabi.
On our first day, we head down to Marina Mall, the biggest and glitziest mall in town, located on the Breakwater. It is shaped like a big-top circus, although it's inspiration is supposedly the Bedouin tent. It has several hundred shops, cinemas, a viewing tower, and a snow park is currently under construction.
It boosts mid range shops like Mango, Zara, Forever21, Bebe and high end stores like Louis Vuitton, Gucci etc

There's even an IKEA store!!

Moi caught a glimpse of the wonderful view outside the mall and literally dragged my kakis out into the scotching heat to take some photos.

Funny!! A man resting in the shadow on a huge signboard

My kakis jumped at the idea as well..and they too make a mad dash for cover!!
You have to understand it's like 43degrees, little wind and cloudless blue sky outside. Think of it like sunny Singapore weather BUT 10times worse.
(btw, moi noticed i turned abit brown in just 1omins under the sun)
Moi managed to convince my frens to help moi take a couple of pictures
My kakis thought it would be a good idea to take a photo from this swing.
Except that moi burned my hands when i touched the metal chain. -_-"
YESH, it was quite painful~My kakis hiding in the shade again!!! On our way back to our hotel.. Cute lil trees along the road
beautiful skyscrapers in the city areaWe spent the next couple of days just lazing around the hotel pool/gym. Our daily meals consist of naan, chicken tikas, chicken masala, biyani etc. After having the same food consecutively for 2 days, we were like "Enough!!" and had Popeye's chickens and MacDonald for the rest of our stay there.

One night, we decided to try this Vietnamese restaurant near to our hotel. We came out thinking "it's probably the worst Pho noodle we ever had in our whole life"

I must say moi had a wonderful time in Abu Dhabi. It was just R&R.
So 100% camel milk anyone?