Now, Ritz Carlton is the only 6 star hotel in Singapore and so.. we do expect a lot from their service. Good thing is, I am a guy who is “easy to please” lol.. and was really delighted with the service during the check in. And oh.. by the way.. they also do offer some beverages while waiting at the check in lobby. *try their strawberry tea… its good and refreshing ^^

Our room was located at the 26 floor of the hotel.. facing the marina bay. Let me tell you… the view is just awesome. I mean… from the video, you can see its pretty cool up there, but, somehow.. its just one of those breathe taking views you get from a city skyline. – Which i couldn’t get from Sydney or even Auckland.

In fact, if you do your research well enough, you probably can get a good view on the fireworks during new years eve or even the national day here in Singapore. and I promise.. the view is going to be spectacular.

By the way, the pillow from the hotel is probably the best pillow EVER. Super comfortable and cozy. I’ve stayed numerous different hotels and only 1 is probably on par with the comfort of the pillow Ritz Carlton offers and that is Intercontinental Shanghai – Though it depends on what kind of “softness” you prefer =P

Ok, I’ll not say much for now… the video below tells its all. Enjoy your weekend.

I love Paris… in fact, I think its one of the best places I’ve visited in all my travel endeavors.

Visiting Effiel tower has always been one of my “must see” list in my travel book. It was the first thing me and my wife did when we arrived in Paris… well.. after a good nights sleep of course.. since the plane touched down late at night.

So, it would be more appropriate to say.. we went on the second day.. but early in the morning.

Took a bus there and bypass the Arc De Triomphe… and I got really excited seeing the huge arc. Maybe because I was pretty impress with the carvings of the structure itself. The way it stands majestically there right in the middle of the road…

We did not stop however, I guess its because we wanted to see Paris Effiel Tower first hand.

So we arrived at the tower and saw this huge and tall tower… ok… most people would think it looks normal because its basically just a brown tower and all.. but I guess I just had this thing for “big”.. ahem… or should I say.. things that are magnificent and have this towering aura around.

So.. Paris Effiel tower does impresses me a lot with that standing so finally… I had my picture taken at Effiel Tower… striking off one of my to do list in my crazy traveling life.

After visiting the tower.. we then moved around and start to explore more of Paris itself, visiting the Les Invalides and also visiting the Lourve Museum… some of the must visits in Paris… and time passes really quickly when you are enjoying yourself… in no time.. its night fall.

Ok… the real highlight of the day actually comes when I suggested to my wife that we should take a nice picture together with the tower – “Night Scene”.

With that, my wife and I stayed late into the night… and just took a picture of us  in front of the tower with our hands so called.. introducing the tower…

There is a problem though. We only had a 15 cm camera stand, and there was no chairs, tables or platforms high enough for us to properly place our stand at the right angle.

So.. I had to run to and fro while adjusting the timer… and at the same.. making sure that my angle was snap correctly(angle of my hand and spot I stand). It cannot be too high nor can I stand too far or have space between the tower.

It was hard…

So.. my wife just stood there.. and I was running… snap… check.. not good.. adjust.. go back.. snap.. check… adjust…..

Ok.. so that running to and fro took me about 20 trips to finally snap a decent one.

While it was a very dramatic picture… it certainly doesn’t come easy… =P

Quit frankly, I was so looking forward to it when I did my holiday trip down to New Zealand.

I actually booked my skydive package at Lake Wanaka. Upon arriving at Sky Dive Wanaka at about 1.30pm, I was told that due to the wind, the jump could not be continued. So.. I had to call them back again at 4pm to see if any jump is available at 5pm.

So.. I did.. and sadly.. the wind was still too big.. and had to be canceled. They did gave me a glimpse of hope however, that I can still do my dive tomorrow at 11am. Well.. at least its not too bad. Sadly.. it rained the next day… and I couldn’t wait till later as I had to pack and head for the glaciers.

So.. I canceled the skydiving package.. with much regret.

Arriving at Fox Glacier… I asked if there was any sky diving package available… but to my dismay… the weather wasn’t too good and we can’t jump due to that…

Oh well… guess its just my fate that the almighty didn’t want me to do my jump. So.. the very next day… we travel down from Fox to Franz Josef. I remember it was like 5pm or so… and as chances of my skydiving experience was becoming slimmer and slimmer by the minute, we happen to walk pass a book shop that offers the skydive package !

I only got 1 shot.. because me and my wife had to go for a heli-hike at Franz Josef Glacier the very next day at 11am. So.. I booked the dive at 4pm… hoping that everything will go well.

and it did…

The journey up was amazing… the views and all… no words ever can explained that. And yea… I did get a little bit of nervous as they climb higher and higher.. despite me being a “adrenaline junkie”… and as the door opened, I felt like I was almost being blown away by the wind above… then…

The rest was history… I did my “virgin dive”… IT WAS AWESOME !

I said I learned something from the start of this post… yes… I realize that I shouldn’t have went so “high” off my head… shouting “wooohoooo” through my way down… the wind speed, gushing in at 200km/hr choked me… and when the “free fall” was done.. I actually remove the goggles.. and the wind just gush into my eyes…poor me… I was teary on my way down… haha..

So.. lesson learned for my next sky dive experience.. probably at Las Vegas…

For now.. here is a video to share my skydive experience over the Franz Josef Glacier… amazing amazing view… enjoy..

When I first got to the fox glacier valley… everything felt so “pre-historic”… and I felt so small. haha… like a scene in the famous Jurassic park movie (Though my wife don’t think so).

Because we were in the valley, we were pretty much surrounded by hills and grasses.. and I was like a little kid.. trying to take photos with my little small compact camera. Well.. in fact.. I was in awe because of the huge and vast area of the place. In addition to that, I’ve always wanted to visit this place.

Well.. the sad thing is.. the camera aren’t able to capture what I wanted to bring home to you guys… so.. really have to apologize for that.

Entering the Fox Glacier Valley, it leads to a 15 minute route to get a closer view of  glacier itself. What I call the “tongue”.

Interesting enough, glaciers move up and down depending on how the melting process goes. Say.. if the bottom of the glacier, ie, the tip of the tongue melts faster, the glacier will become shorter. When the top of the glacier melts faster, then.. the glacier grows in length.

Walking through the glacier is an experience itself… well.. have to be honest, its not exactly very beautiful… because its all rocks and stones.. less the majestic view of the “jurassic park” feel.

On route, you’ll bypass clear turquoise colored water, cause by the melting glacier water. It is said that the color is cause by the rich minerals of the glacier… yes.. its not your everyday blue water but nonetheless… look picture perfect and very “fake”.

Along the way to the tip of the fox glacier tongue, there are small little streams that you will need to pass… erm.. So.. I recommend wearing comfortable shoes and all while trekking on this route.

What I really love about the people here… is that everyone is friendly with one another.. guess all of us are tourist to this area to visit one of the most visited places in New Zealand.So.. there really is a lot of photo taking opportunities when you just ask someone to help you with it.

Arriving at the tip of the glacier tongue, it was sealed up and we can’t go any further… in order to go further into the glacier, one have to sign up and get a guide to follow or something. The reason me and my wife did not do that, is because we have actually intend to do the glacier trekking at Franz Josef Glacier the next day.

At the tip of the big and huge ice glaciers, we were snapping photos like crazy.. with lots of similar shots and weird angles… haha.

I couldn’t help but still.. take my infamous “back shot” I took at Table Mountain… South Africa…