trip – Page 15 – sixthseal.com

I’m flying high on the trapeze!

March 18, 2012 by HB

flying-trapeze

I got to experience the flying trapeze at Club Med, Phuket – it was a natural calling, being attracted to all things with an adrenaline factor in it. It’s one of those things that looks easy but it’s actually quite hard. I was at the flying trapeze almost every single day, aching in muscles I didn’t even know I had, wanting to perfect my technique and be a flyer.

flying trapeze training

The Circus GOs (Gentle Officers) are really big on safety so they see if you can actually do it – hang on a trapeze and then pull your legs up to hang upside down on a slightly raised training trapeze – before they let you go up the real thing.

the real trapeze

This is the real thing.

It’s high but they have a safety net and lots of contraptions to ensure that you don’t fall. This here is my first attempt – a 3:30 minute video where I managed to hook myself on the flying trapeze – it’s very long and rather funny, so I’m posting it up, but the rest of the painful journey is on the SixthSeal.com Facebook page.

trapeze club med

You have to let go and trust that the trapeze will hold you (and your hands and legs won’t fail you) while you hook your legs over the bar and then back into the holding position. There is actually an “audition” of sorts – they won’t let you be a flyer unless you can pull it off perfectly within the stipulated time-frame.

I also managed to do a back flip landing where you swing your legs in and out until you achieve the inertia required to rotate a full 360 degrees in mid-air backwards before landing on the net.

flying trapeze knee hang

…but here’s what I got my certificate for – being a flyer. It’s all about timing, doing things when it’s asked of you without hesitation. I was one of the two that made it (the other girl who managed it was not an amateur) so it actually looks easier and has a higher drop-out rate than you imagine. You need to be interested and dedicated.

I only managed it on my second try, I nearly reached the catcher’s hands on the first try but nearly isn’t good enough.

chalk

Basically, what you do is use chalk to powder yourself up to your elbows (this is to ensure a better grip for the catcher) and hang upside down on the bar on your knees. When you look backward and see the catcher, he/she grips you and you let go of the bar. There’s an element of trust in it as well, which I have in spades – I always trust that there will be no rocks under the sea when I go cliff diving – and the fear of heights, which is why a lot of people don’t get past the basic hook, but I managed to do it.

My entire body was sore every single day and I had cuts and abrasions all over by the time I achieved this but it was all worth it.

kelly

A big thank you to Kelly, Kelsey, Kory, Phil, Hsein Ming, Dennis – all my Circus GO instructors in the Phuket village of Club Med – for being so patient with me. 🙂

I was so ecstatic that I was on a pure adrenaline high for several hours. It was liberating. Watching the video again made me feel that I can do whatever I want to if I set my mind to it. It was the highlight of my trip. 😀

Kuta beach in Bali

January 11, 2012 by HB

kuta

Much has been said about Kuta beach. It’s not exactly the uncharted 3K’s of backpacking these days. Nowadays, you’re more likely to be bugged by people offering massages, hair braiding, Bintang beer and all sorts of random stuff…like a handmade “magic” cigarette dispenser that is really quite nifty, but that was at Legian.

kuta beach bali

We stayed right opposite Kuta beach so it’s literally right in front when we walked out. Come to think of it, we did a lot of walking in Kuta – and let me tell you, these flip flops are *not* made for walking. It’s really hot during the afternoon – mostly Caucasians catching a tan/recovering from hangovers go there at that hour…

kuta bali

…but it’s really nice during sunset.

kuta beach sunset

You see people start streaming in and picking a good spot around 4:30 pm or so – the beachfront vendors are mostly gone by then so you can sit unmolested, without someone asking you if you want something you don’t need and just…

kuta sunset

…chill there, watching the waves roll in, breathing in the sea salt and immersing yourself in the Zen of it all. It feels very serene, especially if you sit right in front. We stayed until 7:30 pm and I think we were the only ones there at that time. Heh.

kuta beach hb

It should be noted that if any eateries offer to add in some mushrooms into your food, they’re not really talking about ye olde regular mushrooms.

Kopi Luwak

January 9, 2012 by HB

luwak coffee

Kopi Luwak or Luwak Coffee is the infamously extravagant coffee that comes out of a civet. Well, you know what I mean.

civet cat

Civet cats like this one eats the coffee beans, supposedly these felines have a taste so refined that they’ll only go for the good ones. They’ll crap it out and people dig the coffee beans (which isn’t digested by the civet cat) from the dung and roast it.

kopi luwak

It’s surprisingly aromatic and very smooth coffee. I liked it, although we paid quite a bit for that small cup. How much?

luwak coffee price

That’s about RM 20. We went to this place quite far from the touristy areas too, we saw it go for IDR 150,000 (RM 50) in airports. Yes, that’s the price for just one cup.

kopi luwak bali

Very expensive coffee, one sip will set you back a couple of dollars. 🙂

Bebek betutu in Tekor Bali

January 4, 2012 by HB

bebek betutu tekor bali

Bebek betutu literally means spiced duck. It’s one of the more well known dishes in Balinese cuisine. After listening to a frowning, disapproving local tell us that bakso is not Balinese in origin, and redirecting us to an awesome babi guling place, it was good to add another check mark to a classical Bali dish.

tekor bali legian

However, we had bebek betutu at the rather dubious beachfront restaurant in Legian called Tekor Bali. It was clean, nice and it came recommended from one of the travel websites. I was a bit hesitant since it didn’t “look” authentic but hey, I have since become a convert. A place does not need to be dingy and dirty to serve up great bebek betutu. 🙂

tekor bali bread

…it can even serve delicious, warm bread with garlic spread as an appetizer if it does its bebek betutu well.

bebek betutu

The bebek betutu at Tekor Bali costs IDR 59,500 (about RM 20) and it’s ½ a roast duck stuffed with spices…and I do mean stuffed. There’s delicious spices everywhere you look (and even some places you don’t).

bebek betutu duck

The duck meat is tender, slightly juicy and extremely well flavored by the spices. The oily dark meat of the duck contrasts perfectly with the spicy packed marinade and it’s delicious with rice.

bebek betutu bali

I picked the bones of the bebek betutu clean. That’s half a duck, which is quite a bit more than I usually eat.

bintang beer

Tekor Bali is perfect for a couple of bottles of Bintang Beer too – it sells it at a comparable price to the Circle-K beside and you have an awesome shaded seat with the wind blowing in from Legian beach. 🙂

Babi Guling in Bali

January 1, 2012 by HB

babi guling bali

This is probably the most famous Balinese cuisine – babi guling.

babi guling denpasar

It’s suckling pig cooked over a fire with herbs and spices and contrary to popular belief, the best and freshest babi guling can only be found in the morning since that’s when it’s prepared.

babi guling stall

I wanted to go somewhere that isn’t commercialized like Ibu Oka so I asked to go where the locals went.

babi guling queue

This turned out to be somewhere in working-class Denpasar, far from the touristy areas and full of people in bikes waiting their turn to take away a packet of pork goodness.

babi guling

A full babi guling meal comes served with several pieces of pork, crispy pork skin, pork crackling, pork sausage, pork satay, deep fried pork liver and a side of bird’s eye chilli. There’s also a bowl of hearty soup that contains huge chunks of pork fat.

bali guling me

I loved it! We had this in the morning and it was so good that I finished everything. It costs IDR 30,000 which works out to about RM 10. It’s the most satisfying meal I had in Bali. Goes very well with a bottle of Bintang beer. 😀

Bakso in Bali

December 29, 2011 by HB

bakso beef

Bakso is a dish of noodles, meatballs and other assorted stuff served in a soup. It’s usually found on the streets – this particular variant comes with a *huge* fist sized beef ball. It’s homemade and the meat is slightly pink and tender on the inside. IDR 7,000 which is about RM 2.40 – it’s worth it for the gigantic homemade beef ball alone. 🙂

bakso

However, the best bakso that we had was outside the Legian beach – it’s one of those portable stalls that allows the vendor to carry his wares behind his motorcycle and literally set up shop there. Nothing beats a hot bowl of this on a rainy evening by the beach.

bakso bali

We just had a very chill afternoon of swimming and lounging on the beach before it suddenly started raining. I really wanted to try the bakso and the guy who owns the stall was quite pleased to have our business and took several photos of us with his stall. He insisted.

bakso stall

The setup is pretty similar but the stall had run out of noodles and egg so it’s just plain bakso (meatballs).

bakso meatball

The meatballs are held in a side area which is constantly heated but surprisingly retains the tender and juiciness of the meatballs.

bakso spicy

You can choose whether you want it spicy or regular (highly recommend the spicy) and it comes to you in a piping hot steaming bowl of goodness.

bakso locals

We sat down on a little nook right on the sidewalk just like the locals – it was that and the cold, wet and drizzling weather offset with a nice bowl of heartwarming spicy bakso that made this the best one we had in Bali. IDR 5,000 (RM 1.70).

bakso motorbike

Fresh raised a very good question though – where does the guy wash the bowls? 🙂

Merry Christmas from Bali!

December 24, 2011 by HB

I believe this is the *only* photo I am ever going to post from last night. It was fucking awesome, and there’s a fantastic story behind it. This was taken in the infamous Poppies Lane II in Kuta.

bali christmas

There were three cameras taking this very same group shot. My travel companion, who prefers to remain anonymous – thus the mosaic – should be so lucky that the other two cameras belong to the girl in blue (Australia) and the guy beside her (United States) so chances are if it turns out on Facebook, it’ll never lead back. Haha.

Let me tell you something about Christmas in Bali. You can say what you want about the Poppies Lane party scene but I will tell you:

It was legen…wait for it…dary!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Braised pigeon, roasted meat (siu mei) and waxed meat (lap mei) in Hong Kong

December 7, 2011 by HB

hong kong siu mei

Siu mei shops can be found all over Hong Kong. These places specialize in Cantonese-style roasted meat – they have everything from plain steamed chicken to roasted goose. They also serve up a gamut of pork dishes – I’ve even seen an entire pig being displayed at one of these restaurants.

roasted meat hong kong

It was a rainy night when we stumbled upon one of the best siew mei (roasted meat) places in Hong Kong. We weren’t really hungry, we just wanted a place to sit down.

eating pigeon

We had spent the best part of the night browsing at Temple Street and I noticed this hole-in-the-wall place which is dirty, slightly dodgy, very loud, and thronged by locals.

lap mei

It serves waxed meat (lap mei) as well! I’m quite fond of the stuff so I decided to check it out.

hong kong local siu mei

The interior had a couple of tables and chairs thrown together and it’s full of old men. There’s definitely no English menu – it’s a place catering to locals. Perfect, that’s just the way I like it. 🙂

eating pigeon hong kong

Anyway, we ate about five meals a day while on vacation in Hong Kong so we decided to order a braised pigeon to share. The pigeon (squab is the proper name for a young pigeon like this) is served whole so you can see the small head and beak perpetually frozen in a mid-squawk of dismay. 😉 It doesn’t have a lot of meat on it, but it’s very tasty. The meat is slightly tough but the flavor is excellent. I absolutely loved it.

braised pigeon

The lap cheong (waxed Cantonese sausages) in Hong Kong is pretty good too. The flavor is almost neutral. I know, that doesn’t sound very appetizing but it’s great! It’s not as salty as the usual lap cheong we get over here – this one is slightly sweet and has a good ratio of pork fat and meat.

hong kong siu yoke

I had worked up an appetite eating the pigeon so I ordered a plate of siu yoke as well. Besides, it was still raining outside and I got the distinct impression that you’re supposed to leave when you’re finished with your meal coz there were people waiting and the tables are shared. Heh.

siu yoke hong kong

Now, Hong Kong siu mei shops takes great pride in their product and although I was pretty full by then, I couldn’t resist eating it all. The siu yoke tends to lean towards the fatty side () and has a crispy layer of skin on top. You get the whole experience of crispy skin, fat and meat and it’s very tender and juicy – positively orgasmic when you eat it with the mustard it’s served with.

siu yoke takeaway

Hell, it was so good I ordered a portion to take away and eat in the hotel for supper.

temple street siu mei

I also noticed that they serve steamed fish with rice, which a lot of people ordered. It’s an unassuming shop specializing in roasted meat, waxed meat and the odd fish somewhere near the fringes of Temple Street. It’s one of the best discoveries we made in Hong Kong, totally loved the pigeon and siu yoke. I wish I had tried the fish though, it looked very promising.

eating siu mei

However, it wasn’t very cheap – the dinner and takeaway cost HKD 340 (about RM 142) for the two of us. You can’t say much about the presentation but it’s the best siu mei we had in Hong Kong and it was worth every single red cent. 🙂

Top 5 things to experience in New Zealand

November 30, 2011 by HB

Christchurch holds a lot of memories for me. I went to high school there when I was 15 and in a sense in was my first great escape. A stranger in a strange land with no parental supervision.

fuckyeah

I did my first tattoo there, my first piercing there (on my septum), and experienced a lot new and wonderful things. I daresay it’s the one of the best times of my adolescent life. I’ve been back a couple of times and have never completely done all the things and seen all the sights the country has to offer.

However, if pressed, I would say that these are the top five things to do in NZ:

1. Do Dunedin

penguins

It’s home to Otago University and the place is actually pronounced dun-nee-dern. It is also close to the southernmost tip of the South Island of New Zealand so you can see yellow eyed penguins and seal colonies.

steepest road

Dunedin is also home to the steepest residential road in the world.

baldwin street

I swear you have to put a brick under your car when you park on Baldwin Street.

2. Go glacier hiking

glacial hike

New Zealand is one of the few places in the world where you can do this. It’s a wonderful experience walking on a large body of ice that has been slowly building for centuries. I personally recommend Franz Josef Glacier over Fox Glacier. I’ve been to both and the ice falls at the former are more sublime. Bring your cold weather gear or you can rent it at the counter.

3. Relax in Rotorua

nz rotorua

You just gotta love the smell of sulfur in the morning. It starts as soon as you reach the fridges of Rotorua – that rotten egg smell that assaults your olfactory senses. However, you get used to it after a while and you’ll be raring to hit the various natural hot pools around this volcanically active area.

rotorua

Note that some of the pools have insane temperatures like 52 degrees Celsius. The first time I was there, I was only 13 (first landing for a NZ permanent resident visa) so I wasn’t allowed into those pools. There are signs posted all over and it took me a while to figure out why – the scalding temperatures might harm your still developing family jewels. Heh.

However, if you’re not a minor, there shouldn’t be a problem.

4. Try Bungy jumping

bungee jumpin

Hello nurse! I’m kidding, this is an extremely safe sport and where better than to do it at the home of commercial Bungy jumping – New Zealand! Yup, AJ Hackett popularized the sport back in the ’80s while jumping in Auckland. The term “bungy” is apparently Kiwi slang for “elastic strap”.

bungee jumping

Check out the world’s first permanent commercial bungy site at Kawarau Bridge Bungy in Queenstown.

5. Go Punakaiki

pancake rocks

No, I wasn’t swearing at you. Punakaiki skirts the Paparoa National Park and it’s main claim to fame are the Pancake Rocks. The Pancake Rocks at Dolomite Point is a marvel of nature. I was quite impressed the first time I was there.

blowhole

There are also blowholes during high tide where you can see the sea surge explode vertically from the underground caves.

Feel like having an awesome vacation there? AirAsia X is running a contest where you can win a trip of a lifetime to New Zealand!

You can choose the type of traveler you are:

aax

and create a team of 4 like-minded people or just go solo.

It’s all done through Facebook so you can pick 3 buddies to have a go at the game – more people, more brains, more fun. Or just go at it solo if you’re the independent type and prefers relying on your own (vastly superior, or so you think) skills.

The online games and trivia will start on 8th December so sign up now at The Great NZ X-Cape. There are NZ trips to be won for both teams and individuals so let’s see how good everyone is. Come join the contest and win the trip of your dreams! 😉