Bordeaux 2010- Part 1

Last week, I took another exciting trip to France, this time: Bordeaux – the wine lover’s heaven.

The purpose of the trip was to be the first to taste 2010 vintages --En Primeur ("wine future", is a method of purchasing wines early while a vintage is still in a barrel, offering the customer the opportunity to invest in a particular wine before it is bottled. Payment is made at an early stage, a year or 18 months prior to the official release of a vintage. A possible advantage of buying wines en primeur is that the wines may be considerably cheaper during the en primeur period than they will be once bottled and released on the market.)

It was my first time to Bordeaux, as much as I love Paris, I was actually planned to take an overnight train to visit Paris after the Bordeaux trip, but it wasn’t necessary at the end, because I felt in love with Bordeaux. 

Our frist stops were St.Emilion, and Pomerol.....

The Chateaus:

With my co-worker from Singaporean office at Vieux Chateau Certan

First night's restaurant, nice little place in the St.Emilion town, so-so foods, but great people, outstanding wines = good times.

1989 Chateau Haut Brion

2005 Chateauneuf Du Pape & 2004 Chateau Fonsalette* my new favorite, it was very elegant and unforgettable

At Chateau Petrus, where we received a warm welcome from the  JP Moueix family (owner).
I was holding the 2008 Petrus, marker price around 7000USD, thank god I didn't drop it. We tasted the 2010 vintage, it was unforgettable,  100% merlot, it was effortlessly amazing!

The little downtown of St.Emilion, beautiful weather! 

Ju-Ma-Na Restaurant; Wine: 2006 Gaja Ca'marcanda Promis

Tonight, we had a fantastic dinner at Banyan Tree's Ju-Ma-Na; It's a contemporary fine dinning in a cliff top setting, overlooking the beautiful indian ocean. Ju-Ma-Na is considered one of Bali's best dinning venues.

With the parents at the dock of Ju-Ma-Na, the breathtaking indian ocean behind us.

Wine for the evening- 2006 Gaja Ca'macanda Promis Merlot Syrah Sangiovese.  From Tuscany, one of Italia's best producers. It's a delightful mouth coating flavor of medium acidity, smooth textures across the palate; a delicious blend of Merlot, Syrah and Sangiovese. It matched perfectly with my lamb filet.

My lamb filet, medium rare, with pumpkin puree; grilled asparagus; red wine sauce bordelaise; plus potato gnocchi. Very delicious, great recommendation from our waitress to match our wine. 

The restaurant - very high price range, but you can't really put a price on the view and beautiful contemporary setting of the restaurant. Outstanding service and knowledge from the staff. All the main courses are outstandingly created, although the appetizers could use some improvement. I will always remember and recommend this place, it was a once in a life time experience. 

Tomorrow, back to Hong Kong, sad to leave this place, both hotels we stayed at were both very memorable. But most importantly I got to spend a lot of valuable time with my parents, since we moved to Canada, it has been difficult to find time to spend together, and it's always tough to meet my dad's high expectation when it comes to travel, because he has worked so hard his whole life to make money to provide his family with great lives, therefore I wanted to make sure I can plan the perfect trip with the money they spend on it, and I am so glad my planning this time to Bali gave him the opportunity to relax. I feel very blessed to be able to enjoy this time with them. 

Bali Part 2- Banyan Tree Ungasan

Bali, Indonesia – Set high on the cliffs near to the Uluwatu Temple, Banyan Tree Ungasan brings definitive fine cliff top living to the renowned beach island of Bali.

An all-pool villa resort located at the southernmost point of Bali, Banyan Tree Ungasan offers one of the best unparalleled views of the Indian Ocean, complete with a level of comfort and privacy synonymous with the Banyan Tree brand.

Enjoy a soothing pace of life, complete with indigenous cultures seen through Balinese-inspired architecture and exquisitely landscaped gardens, while rejuvenating your senses with authentic treatments at our signature Banyan Tree Spa.

Banyan Tree Ungasan is a 35-minute drive from Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport and just minutes away from the private beaches of Nusa Dua.

Descriptions of Banyan Tree Ungasan from the website at http://www.banyantree.com/en/bali_ungasan/overview

Garden Path Way inside of our villa 103

Living Room

Master Bedroom

View from Master's, our own private pool over looking the Indian Ocean

Private Pool and Hot tub

Hotel's pool and Restaurant Cafe

Bali part 1 Travel Fabulous, always get upgraded

Arrived in Bali, it’s humid, but the temperature is perfect right now, at about 28C.

I have been very fortunate to travel ever since I was a little girl- from China to Europe, to Japan and Cape town. And my fashionable mother has taught me well - always put on a smiley face because you are vacation, and how to make the trip more fabulous? – travel smart, get upgraded.

The first 3 nights of our trip, we are staying at the Intercontinental Bali Resort,

Here's our room situation and on how to upgrade at 5 star resort:

·      I booked the trip via travel agent in HK; they are usually the most efficient and reasonable when traveling to the South East Asia. My travel agent Iris booked 3 nights of Intercontinental for 1200HKD (155USD) per night, the rate is for Classic Room. At Intercontinental, they have 3 levels of rooms: Classic, Sanjaran, and Club. Club as the most prestige.

·      Club’s benefits include: bigger room, inclusive usage of Club Lounge, with unlimited juice, tea, coffee and soft drinks 24hrs a day; unlimited cocktail every day from 4:30pm-7: 30pm; private pool for Club guests only; 24hr fitness center; complementary internet at the business center, among the other perks. And the Club’s rate on Expedia is $400 USD per night.

·      Our travel agent has a contract with the hotel, it gives their clients free upgrade to the Sanjaran room, the second level, but besides the room is bigger, no other perks, the rates are $250USD per night online.

·      hotels always try to have the cheapest rooms available. when I got to the hotel, I asked during check-in, since we are already at second level, how much would it cost if we want to upgrade to Club room? And the rate was 70USD extra per night.

·      Therefore, we are now staying at the Club room, enjoying all of those extra perks, for 2 people, and the final rate is $220 USD per night, instead of $400.

The tips:

- Check rates with Travel Agent;

- Be nice to hotel staff during check in, and ask for LAST MINUTE upgrade, don't be shy about it, people always ask, if you don't ask, you will never know. 

And now, we get to enjoy Bali with Club benefits: 

One of the benefits: unlimited exotic Indonesian fruit at the lounge:

NANGKA ( the big-tree pineapple)

RAMBUTAN ( we call it the fuzzy lychee)

 SALAK ( snake skin fruit)

weekend in Shanghai

This weekend, I was in Shanghai, and had an amazing date night at our favorite Sichuan restaurant, and definitely one of the SH's favs among Lao Wai ( Foreigners) and locals - Sichuan Citizen. it's located at the French Concession, that area is filled with creative, unique, and exciting eateries, bars, lounges, and cafes. Although great chinese restaurants often don't last as long as the western eateries, but this place has been around for awhile, and every time I bring guests there, I get the "silent treatment" every time.. because the food is fantastic, and spicy enough that, they just eat, and drink water, then eat more.

The restaurant has a great bar serves all western cocktails,  the dinning room has the real Sichuan feel with a twist of modern flavor.

And the food..... omg! we had their famous Numbing spicy fish in soup, it uses live fish with slices of mushroom.

And the Sichuan's stable- Ma Mo Dou Fu ( Spicy Tofu ). C.Z gets it right every time.

After dinner, we drove for about 3 mins from C.Z within the French Concession area, and we found H.O.F - House of Flour. I heard about it from my friends, and didn't believe I could find a "desert heaven" in China. But we did... they are majored in Chocolate, Belgium Chocolate, yes!!! they bake their own cakes, they serve Illy Coffee, plus cocktails.....

We ordered the Death by Chocolate and a couple of lattes, I really couldn't believe what I was tasting, very impressed! The cake has a great chocolate aroma, and the chocolate layers were creamy, but it wasn't overly sweet, and they put a tea spoon of crunchy chocolate beans.

And, look.... you can buy chocolate high heels here too... certainly, 2 of my favorites in 1.

Back to Shanghai tomorrow

Back to Shanghai tomorrow for the weekend, to see my man, and to be back to this amazing vibrant new born city of China, come visit!
If you do come visit, check out this site www.smartshanghai.com, so you'll see just why people fall in love with 上海。

My Blog

Okay, it took me a awhile to get into this, but I am one of those people who would rather go out and explore the world other than sitting at home trying to figure out how this machine works. But today it's the day, I need to share my joy to everyone I love. I enjoy life, and I wake up every morning feeling blessed to be alive; to enjoy this wonderful world. I want to use this blog to encourage everyone to do the same- work hard, and live harder.