Company Trip to Kota Kinabalu - Day 1 (Nov 2010)

My second visit to Kota Kinabalu in a 3 months period.  This time, no Mt Kinabalu as it was a company trip.  We would be following a package tour...how exciting!  Had not been to a package tour for ages, guessed I would probably switch off and relax during the trip.

The trip started with a 0700Hr assemble at Changi Airport.  All of us were complaining on why we need to assemble so early as the flight was at 0850Hr.  The explaination given was that this would give us enough time to cater for late comers, or people who forgot their passport.  Oh well, all of us obediently complied and went for McDonald breakfast, hoping to win a big prize in the Mcdonald Monopoly contest.  No big prizes, though we won an ice cream cone, and a one for one Singapore flyer ride.

I have never knew that the process of discovering who were the people sitting with you in the plane was so exciting.  A group of us were worried that we might get to sit with one of the colleague, (herein called N) so when i boarded the plane and saw that it was not N, i had a sense of relief. 

Upon arrival to KKIA, i rushed to buy Old Town White Coffee, tucked at the corner of Terminal 1.  Ah....yummy reminded me of my last trip here...deja vu

Saw Landslide on my way to the destination

We finally set off to our first destination - The starting point for the river rafting (Note:  It was not white river rafting)  It was a 1.5 hours journey, and we finally reached to our destination, famished and was yearning for our BBQ lunch.  Lunch was disappointing, the only BBQ stuff was the BBQ chicken wings.  It was yummy, but the rest of the dishes were disappointing - Hotdog in tomato sauce, fried brinjal, fried tiny fishes.  I was hungry, so i did not have much complain, at least the wings were good.

We had an activity to do before we depart for our river rafting.  We were given a piece of flip chart paper, and were asked to pair up with someone, to draw the vision that you had when you joined the company, on why you joined the company.  I was artistically challenged, and the best thing that I could draw was a stick man..

We made our way to the starting point of the river rafting, another 30 mins journey, and it started to rain on our way there.  We slipped into a panic mode, thank God that the rain stopped when we finally reached.

Before the trip, I was quite decided that I would skip the rafting.  However, I changed my mind, mainly because of these 2 reasons:
a)  I thought I had to run down to the ending point as it was a 9km journey.
b) The more important reason, was N was not rafting, and the idea of being stucked with her for an hour was a beyond imagination, I rather tried to conquer my fear and went for the rafting.  So i decided, i rather risk to go into the water, than to face N! 

I went to pick up my life jacket gingerly, choosing one that looked better than the other (in case there were holes!?!)  Then I chose my helmet, and my paddle.  After gearing up, we went for the safety instructions, which i thought frightened you more than anything else.  In fact, two of my colleagues backed out after listening to the safety instructions.

There were 7 people to a raft, including the guide.  Adrian & Tim sat in front as we needed strong men in front.  The middle of the raft were reserved for non swimmer like me, so Dino & I saw in the middle, while Maya & Wendy sat at the end.  It went fine in the beginning, then the water started to get faster.  It did not help that it just rained, and the water level according to the guide, has rose 1cm.  I obediently listened to the instruction of the guide "FORWARD" and kept paddling forward as hard as I could, and praying at the same time.  "Dear God, pls keep me safe in the raft, Amen"  When the guide shouted "STOP", we had to place the paddle on our lap, held it tight.  Our raft managed to stay afloat, and the guide did not purposely capsized the raft.  I figured that the current was too fast for him to take the risk.  Our MD's raft capsized and he and another colleague fell into the water.   While the MD was struggling to get back to the raft, the another colleague happily stepped on him and got back to the raft first.  Certainly it looked like a career ending move, but i thought when it was about life and death, ranking did not matter!

After shower

I was so happy when I finally reached the destination..I did it! I survived!!  YEAH!!  I did not regret going down, it was fun, though the brown water did not taste good.  Tasted like wheat.  Lesson learnt:  Next time if you raft, do not shout as you will drink the water!  The only accident that happened in our raft was Tim losing his paddle.

We made our way back to hotel after rafting, and the first thing I wanted to do was to shower.  Rac & I went for a quick bite before dinner and I was so thrilled to see Old Town White Coffee in 1 Borneo.  Dinner was disappointing.  After an hour drive to some seafood place with cultural show.  Before the trip, Adrian and I speculated that the dinner would not be good since it would be a touristy place, we just did not expected it to be so bad.  The fish was stale, the vegetables were overcooked, the meat was tough.  The only dish that could make it was the fruits and of course the beer.

We had wanted to go for Ba Gu Teh in Jalan Gaya as I missed it in the last trip. However, the guide said that it closed at 2200Hr, and we had to abort plan as it will take another 20 mins to get to the town.   In the end, we went for a head, shoulders, neck massage, and we joined the boys at Ice Bar for a drink. 

It was interesting to see my colleague in a different light after a few drinks..

Oilo Cafe with the Girls that have no dragon tatoo

I had not met the 2 Michelles for a while.  Always enjoyed their company, both of them love food, and one of them love photography, so it was always great to meet them, of course for food!

We did not plan for some exotic places, as we were booked for a movie in Marina Square- Girl who kicked the hornets nest!  I was so thrilled when I knew that the 2 michs were fellow fans of Lisbeth!  Lisbeth was my new heroine, and she had my dream job - Hacker.  My secret fantasy was that I could be the best hacket in the world, hacked into any network and best of all, banks, so that I could transfer other people's money into my account! hahahhaa
Girl who kicked the hornest nest was the last part of the Trilogy books by Stieg Larsson.  I watched the first moive - Girl with a Dragon Tatoo and i fell in love with the character, Lisbeth.  She was not your typically kind of goody heroine.  She had character, and style, hmm, well, some might not agree.  I missed the second movie, somehow there was no advertisement on this movie, and was exclusive to Golden Village.  I made it up by reading the book...Man, it was mind blowing!!  If you have not read it, pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee  read it now!!

We settled for Olio Cafe in Marina Square.  Had not been to Olio for proper meal, my impression of them was that they served decent coffee and desserts.  Our mains:

Grilled Fish with Salsa.  The Salsa was great, served as a great appertiser, and it took away any fishy taste..

 Chicken Pie.  It was big, but it was not crisy enough.  I think that Country Manna was still the champion of this type of pie.  The curry was good though.

 Grilled Chicken, rather average, the fish was better.

 Cheese cake

 Ah, this was the star of the night!  Brownie on hot plate.  First time I saw brownie served on hotplate, sizzling hot plate.  The waitress poured the chocolate sauce onto the brownie, creating the sizzling effect..ssiiiiiiiissssiiii..and Mich went "  WOWOWOWOWO, i want this"  Mich and I bet that she was secretly delighted when the pie that she ordered was sold out, because without battling her eyelid, she said " Then I will change my order to the brownie"  Can you see that the peanuts were flying??  Special effect.. :-)
We went for our movies after the dinner, not without some road blocks as one of the Mich were lost, in Marina Square...Hahhaa

 Can you see the bubbles?  The white piece of block was Ice Cream!!!  Hot and cold, perfect contrast, challenging your taste buds.  A bit too sweet for me, but i love the sizzling hot plate.

 Secret to the special flying peanuts effect

A date with the Vienna Boys

We had a date the boys.  They had such angelic voice that you could just melt.  The concert was divided into two segments.  The first session, the boys wore chinese wear, and they were performing a skit, with singing in between.  It was nice, except that we were lost in translation.  We did not understand the conversation during the skit, which took away some level of appreciation. 

Part 2 was better.  The boys were wearing their traditional uniform, and sang to the conductor.  I just love European accent.  The conductor spoke at the beginning of the songs, and his accent, was just cute :-)
I realised that Singaporeans had very bad manners in attending concert.  In other countries, you would not be allowed entry if you were late, and you could only enter during the interval.  Here, Esplande allowed the late comers to go in, though a nice gesture, it affected the rest of the audience.  We saw people strolling in at 1945hr and even at 1955Hr, and the sharp noise made from the ladies's stilettos were simply irriating.

Grand Piano

No photos were allowed during the concert...BUT this was taken during the ENCORE!  And since Encore was not part of the concert, I believed that photos were allowed :-)

Okay, you must be thinking what does this got to do with the boys?  You were right, absolutely nothing to do with it.  This was taken at Max Brenner Chocolate Bar at Esplande, where we adjourn to after the concert.  Apparently witth two growing babies, pizza & lasagne were not enough for dinner.  Max Brenner Chocolate Bar was the perfect place for two chocoholics!  These heaps of chocolate powder were at the counter, and i ignored the stares to go to take it..I was not very impressed with the resutls, but well, since it was taken with G11, could not complain too much.  It was a nice way to end the night.  Defintely an enjoyable day with the boys, Lilian and desserts.

Waffle with banana...Sinful but yummy!

A day at Botanic Garden

Since i had my dream lens with me, I have decided that i would go to Botanic Garden in the morning.  It started to rain before I reached there, and thank God, it stopped after my breakfast, and it made a weather to shoot.  The rain also gave the flowers nice water droplets, making the photos more interesting.

I was not very happy with my photos due to some hand shake.  Will be back with a tripod.

Product Photography Workshop by WS

Attended a very interesting product photography workshop organised by the West Shooterz.  The first part of the workshop was Macro Photography by an avid macro photographer, Peter.  Peter really has an eye for details. His works on insects are brillant.  But I am not into macro, too busy running away from insects than taking photo of them!  I signed up for the workshop as I was more interested in the 2nd part of the workshop - Product Photography.

The speaker, Larry, gave a very practical sharing on the equipment, lightings and some techniques he used.  We had a lot of fun shooting the products that he brought along.  Kudos to WS who organized it.  No regrets of spending $30, which mainly went to the room rental and food.  And it was great catching up with the boys, who are so passionate about photography.

Buko Nero

Another post with no photo.  This time, it was because we went to Buko Nero, who had a NO PHOTOGRAPHY policy.  Buko Nero is located at Tanjong Pagar road, heard about them some years back, from an Italian excolleague.  But never had the chance to try it, as the place was so small, can take around 20 people, and you would need to book 1 month in advance to secure a seat!!!  Place was also way too small for you to steal a photo with your phone..heehee

Polo and I were out to secure a seats.  So we came out with a brillant plan which I shall not share.  The restaurant was already half full when we were there, and there was 2 ladies working, one younger one, and the other elderly and motherly one.  I figured one should be the wife of the chef, the other the mum.

Deciding what to order was a challenge.  I was usually quick to decide what I wanted to eat, but I was stucked as everything seems so good.  We finally decided a scallop for starter, and the focaccia crusted cod fish recommended by the lady, and a pasta with wagyu beef. 

Bread with sundried tomatoes were served before the starter.  The bread was very very good.  Soft, warm and the sundried tomato gave it the extra flavour.  The scallop was fresh and crunchy.  The Cod was very fresh, and the crispy focaccia gave it the punch.  The pasta was a bit disappointing.  The pasta was good, but with the wagyu beef cut into small piece, you could not really taste the wagyu beef.

We ended the dinner with a warm milk chocolate cake with gelato.  Average, not to my liking as it was too sweet.  Service was efficent and i like the mum, as she was warm and attentive.

Overall:  7.5/10.  Not the best italian restarants in town, I wonder if I would wait 1 month for it.  If the waiting time is shorter, I don't mind a return.

Buko Nero
Address: 126 Tanjong Pagar Road Singapore

Tel: +65 6324 6225

Nicholas Le

This is a no photo post.  Well, they said photoghraphy allow, but no flash!!!  I could not manage my shaky hands, so none of the photo turned out acceptable, other than the starter, which i used flash.  I was stopped after the first photo..Sigh

The restaurant was just a block away from the famous Ember, and was relatively small, with approx 6 tables. and a private room.  It was a open kitchen concept, so you could actually see the chef cooking.  Well, at least you know that you are not eating monkey's brain.

We chose the Wine Pairing Tasting Menu, a 8 courses dinner which started with some crackers as well as complimentary free flow of bread.  The bread were warm and soft, and we had to control ourselves to prevent overeating before the main course!

Crispy bread with duck terrine (In addition to the warm bread)

First Course - Starter

Pan Fried King Prawn.  Well, only 1 king prawn, though the plate was big.  Prawn was chopped into 2 pieces, with different sauces.  I would say that it was a piece of art.

Second Course- Starter

Soup, some clams

Third Course - Starter

I love this one.  It was an egg.  According to the waiter, the eggs were from Japan.  Inside the egg, there was some sauce or soup that tasted like truffle, mixed with the egg.  There was also a piece of cripsy biscuits in the egg.  On the side, there was a piece of crispy pork.  Totall unique combination.

Fourth Course:

Pasta, with some caviar.

Fifth Course:

Grilled pigeon.  Very small portion, but grilled to perfection, and served with different garnishing and sauce.

Sixth Course:

Dessert, a waffle, a chocolate pudding and icecream.  I love the desserts, because there were not as sweet.

Seventh Course:

Coffee

Of the 8th courses, 6 were served with wine.  We ended with a sweet wine, which was not as sweet.  What's the name?  i could not remember either. 

So where is the missing 8th course?  There was one more before the pasta which I could not remember what was that.  We finished the meal with a cheese platter, where we could select from a variety of cheese.  I chose blue cheese, my fav brie and 2 others recommended by the waiter.  The brie was of an older age, not the usual super market quality.

Overall, the food was excellent, you could feel the love and the dedication of Chef Nicholas put in.  My only complaint was that they do not allow photoghraphy with flash!  With my shaky hands, I could not manage shutter speed of less than 1/50, so most of my photos turned out blurred.  It was a shame, because only good photo could do his art pieces justice.   Wine pairing is recommended too, because it can bring out the flavour of the food.  Definitely a place to go for special occasion.

Overall:  9/10

Nicolas Le Restaurant

31 Keong Saik Road
Singapore 089138
Tel: +65 62242404