I HAD NEVER thought of visiting Oman and not known any friends who have done so. But boy, was it a trip that was absolutely breathtaking. I travelled with my long-time friend Nazurah (Billabong-bag-buddies since 2003 haha!). After a pampering 5 days in Dubai, we took a 5-hour bus ride down from Deira to arrive in Muscat city […]

AFTER TWO STOPOVERS in Dubai airport over two separate trips to Europe, I made a pact to someday visit this Emirati city for real.  And so I did. Nazurah and I flew in to UAE this past December which also coincided with the week of her 25th birthday. Seated on the shores of the Arabian Gulf, this beautiful […]

THAT IS ONE item checked off my bucket list – doing a wheelchair wheelie. That means balancing on the rear wheels of a wheelchair. Over the course of the last week, we had the pleasure of hosting the good people from the Wheelchair Skills Program (WSP) as part of the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Healthcare […]

AFTER A 4-DAY climb of Mt Rinjani, we took to Gili Trawangan to unwind ourselves. Gili Trawangan is the largest of 3 Gili islands off Lombok, and it felt like being on Bali’s Kuta beach just on a much smaller scale (the number of white tourists streaming in). The speedboat was a mere 15-minute ride from the […]

LOOK MA! I climbed an active volcano! My first time on an extended hiking trip. It was one that was planned 6 months prior, so we had time for lots of stairclimbing training. But no one can ever be truly prepared for what’s coming… the element of surprise! And that is what makes a trip so […]

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold. 

Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

-Robert Frost-

SOME PEOPLE HATE having to pack for a trip. I on the other hand, absolutely adore the process. Because it means rummaging through the store room for gears that see daylight only a couple of times per year. And a chance to put on my hiking boots, yay!  The Black Diamond Bolt 22-litre Pack is an ultimate doll. […]

THIS VESAK DAY saw us trekking a route less travelled. Known as the pipeline trail, the 10km route took us parallel to Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) on the outskirts of protected area – starting from Zhenghua Park in Bukit Panjang, via Mandai, to Woodlands. The water pipes are mostly covered beneath ground, but there are […]