Aladdin The Musical

So as some of you might know, I went to Australia for 10 days so I have a lot of stuff to write about but I think I'll start with my personal favourite: Aladdin The Musical.

It is honestly the best musical I've seen and I'm not just saying it because it's Disney.

Aladdin The Musical is very very different from all the other ones I've seen because of the interaction between the audience and the cast, specifically Genie (Michael James Scott). He is so sassy and funny and really steals the spotlight!

Out of all the musicals I've watched, Aladdin also has the best female lead (in terms of voice) and the best set.

Jasmine played by Arielle Jacobs.

Sadly photography isn't allowed in the theatre but luckily I managed to find a couple of photos on google. But I promise you will be so impressed with the props, backdrop and everything! There are even fireworks, in addition to confetti. Yes that's right, fireworks.

But really if you're going to Sydney you should definitely include this in your itinerary!

AND also if you're a Disney fan you must bring some money because they have really nice things in their shop. The lamp-snowglobe thing is also a music box which plays "A Whole New World" and costs $85. If you're looking for a more affordable memento, they also sell really nice keychains and magnets for $15.

Purchase your tickets here!

Broadway playlist (not by the Sydney cast)

California San Diego Sea World

Animal theme parks is a mandatory activity in my family's travel itinerary regardless of which country we go to. So of course we wouldn't miss out San Diego Sea World during our 2016 California trip.

I think one reason why I'm still not bored of animal theme parks is because of the souvenir shops.

What makes this theme park so different from the others is their splendid dolphin show. Though I didn't really enjoy it because I think that it is a cruel act to imprison dolphins (or any animals that require a vast amount of space) in small tank.

Another reason why Sea World was so memorable was because it was the first time I got to touch a stingray and feed sea lions. If I'm not wrong, there isn't a need to pay to touch the sting rays and the price of the sea lion food was kinda cheap too.

There was also an extremely extremely adorable pet show about pets saving Christmas! Besides our everyday pets, there were even animals such as a kangaroo and a pig. 

Our last activity of the day was to watch another Christmas show. Who doesn't love christmas shows am I right? 

I can't really remember the storyline but this is one of the funniest theme park show I've watched!

Thanks for reading!

Universal Studios Hollywood

During the California trip, my sister and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood. Yes, just us since my parents aren't really a fan of theme parks and they didn't really know the characters there. As far as I can remember, this is the first time I've went to a theme park in another country without my parents so it was definitely a unique experience for me. 

We got the Front-of-the-line passes to make sure we could finish all the rides and shows. Thank god we did as it was Boxing Day and the place was extremely crowded. All the rides except for one kiddy ride had at least a 40 minute wait after 10 am so if you're planning to try out all the attractions in a day, buying the fast passes will be the smarter choice. 

I was really surprised when I saw the park map as I had no idea the park would be so small. I was so psyched for the Marvel rides as I didn't reach the height limits when I was younger. Little did I know that that was in Universal Studios Florida. Disappointing yes I know. 

We started out at the Minions area as we were looking for Starbucks. The only ride there was the 4D stimulator ride that Singapore doesn't have. It was still early when we got there so we barely had to queue. This was how we made our mistake... After the ride, we went around taking photos with mascots, drink coffee at a French Bistro near the Minion ride (don't buy the starbucks from here because they have really limited choices and the coffee wasn't that good either). The 20 minute wait time for the rides became over 40 minutes!

The second ride we went to was the Jurassic World Wet Ride which is located at the Lower Lot. I kinda hate how there's an Upper Lot and a Lower Lot because it takes 4 long escalators from one place to another. It was really inconvenient and a waste of time. Again we decided not to use our fast passes as the waiting time wasn't that long yet, which was pretty dumb of us because we didn't have time for a second round as planned. 

One of the rides was really enjoyable and special. The Studio Tour is a must to go as it is the main attraction of Universal Studios Hollywood. I think that because of their size constraints and the fact that Universal Studios movies are filmed there, the rides are mostly 4D simulators to show off how great their technology and stuff are. So yes, in exchange of exciting adrenaline pumping roller coaster rides, you get to ride on a tram around the sets of many universal studios movies. How exciting!!

I may sound sarcastic but the experience is a lot better than how I just described it. If you don't believe me you can always believe the waiting time of the attraction, which was 75 minutes. It was really an eye opener to learn that the same set could be remodeled to fit different locations in dozens of movies. We also got the chance to watch 360• 4D stimulators for King Kong and Fast and Furious 7. They really went overboard with the water effects because it felt like they dumped a whole pail of unknown liquid on my face. 

The other ride I enjoyed was the Mummy coaster. It is almost the same as the one in Singapore so you must be wondering why I had fun on it. So at the last part of the ride, it was really quite and dark. Just imagine the silent part before a jump scare in a horror movie and you'll get what I mean. During that part, I screamed at my sister and she got scared and what made it even funnier was that I did the same thing when we watched an Egyptian movie a few months back. We planned to ride the Mummy coaster again and I was really looking forward to it because I wanted to scare other people but the queue for the single riders was definitely more than 30 minutes in the evening when we got back to it. After wasting 15 minutes we decided to give up. 

There were other rides/shows that Singapore doesn't have such as the Simpson Ride, Animal Actors and the classic ones like the Transformer 4D Ride and Jurassic Park. 

I think that Animal Actors is a fantastic pet show. Usually pet shows have the usual animals: dogs, cats, pigeons and pigs for some others. I'm quite sure not many pet shows have owls in their cast list. The animals of the shows are actually the animals in Universal Studios movies, one of which is Harry Potter. It was really cool to see how animals are trained to act in movies. What made the show even better was the backstage passes we had due to the front-of-the-line card, allowing us to take pictures with the owl!

And now I shall end of this post with pictures :)

Grand Canyon Tour

Hmm, Grand Canyon ok very interesting  was my reaction when my dad first told me about it. I was quite uncertain about the idea because what's so interesting about a pile of dumb rocks. Well that pile of dumb rocks comes with different interesting photo points, historical facts and a deep trench that one can jump into anytime they want :) Also, it serves as a great escape place from the bustling city lifestyle as the canyon is a great place for hiking and for chilling on the edge of a clliff to have a picnic.

As we had never been to the Grand Canyon before, it was better to join a one day tour group to ensure our safety is taken care of. 
http://www.grand-adventures.com/#./west-rim-skywalk-tours

Starting of our journey was a picture at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, followed by breakfast at the golden arches, which was really just Mcdonalds. Chad tried his best to glorify the fast food restaurant. I have to say it was the best Mcdonalds meal I've ever had. Firstly, the menu is 90% different from the one in Singapore. Also, Chad delivered our food and cleared the table personally. Table service in Mcdonalds! I'm sure not many people have experienced that before,

After a two hour car journey, we finally arrived at Grand Canyon. Our first destination was at Eagle Point where the SkyWalk was located at. At first I thought it was called Ego Point until I saw the sign at the location. The place got its name from these two rocks that resembles an eagle's wings.

I thought the SkyWalk was a super cool glass-floored bridge that connects from one end of the canyon to the other but the real deal was truly disappointing. Instead of what I had expected, the attraction was this tiny circular walking area, no more than a 10 meter radius with a glass floor so scratched and dirty it barely feels like I'm walking on air. This was probably why we were not allowed to bring any objects into the Skywalk to prevent more detoriation of the glass. Even so, Chad managed to snap a few photos of us on the Skywalk.

While waiting for the other tourists, we had plenty of time to take many insta-worthy photos.

 

Our next destination one stop away from Eagle Point to learn about the Native American Tribal Structures. As Chad grew up in environments like these, he was able to share some interesting facts and information.

Afterwards, we began our hike. Just a tip for all of you: wear dark colored clothes as you might have to climb up some rocks to take a good photo and to wear sports shoe or old shoes as it might get scratched or dirty. I really enjoyed the walk around Grand Canyon because it was the only chance I had to exercise this trip and who wouldn't enjoy climbing around right? To be honest I was probably the only one in our group that had fun climbing up the rocky slope. It was no kick for sporty men like me hehe.

I could tell that Chad was really passionate about his job as he shared all the interesting photo points that we came across and offered to take photographs for us.

All those walking actually made me lose my appetite during lunch and the ice cold sandwiches certainly did not help. There were also cheese crackers, grapes and chocolate chip cookies but wouldn't it be better if we had a bowl of steamy hot noodles instead?

Our final destination was Hoover Dam. At that time I was already exhausted but I couldn't resist not spamming photos of the gorgeous scenery in front of me. I thought that the dam was pretty cool since many places rely on it's water and generated energy.

Although the Grand Canyon tour was exhausting as hell, it was the most fun I had in Las Vegas and I really recommend that all of you visit it, be it with a tour group or alone. However, for safety reasons, I think that going with an experience guide will be better as there may be some places that are out of bounds and hazardous. 

Top 5 Places to Visit in London

While I was planning the itinerary of this London trip in November, I realized how difficult and straining it was to do so. Finding the tourist attractions of a country was pretty easy. The difficult part was to figure out how much time I should spend in one. There was also the problem of budgeting for the trip which I was so bad at doing at over budgeted $1000 for this trip.

And so... 

Top 5 Places to Go in London


5) The London Dungeon

The targeted audience for this lovely attraction here is for the sad and masochistic souls who love being tortured, scared, treated like a slave (exaggerated). Well, this is the place to be. Entering Olden London as one of the traitors plotting to overthrow the great King James, you will be living the murky pasts of London a millennium ago, experiencing what the peasants of the past did. To be hung alive as entertainment for the civilians; to rebel with the infamous Guy Fawkes against the higher authorities of the country; to live in fear, not knowing when the notorious Jack the Ripper will strike again with you as the next target. 



With its 360 sets, great actors, screams and special effects, one might actually think that they really have been sent back to the past through a time machine. "Oh shit what am I doing here... oh yeah I paid to come in here." The duration of the attraction is 90 minutes which will fly quickly once you've immersed yourself into the theatrical storytelling by the guides. 





If you are interested in visiting this dungeon, do book online to save money. The prices start from £18.95 for adults and £16.50 for children. By purchasing tickets of other attractions in the vicinity such as The London Eye and Madaam Tussades Museum, you will receive a bundle offer which will save you money.


4) Central London

To be more accurate, it's this area.

Westminster neighbourhood+ area around Buckingham Palace. If you enjoy taking photos, this location must be included in your itinerary.

I started off at Buckingham Palace to watch Changing the Guards. The dates can be found in this website but just to be safe, you can also go the palace a day before to confirm with the workers there.

After a long hour of watching guards march around, we walked through St James Park which is the most beautiful park I've ever seen. Autumn colored leaves dotted the grassy fields; swans frolicking in the almost crystal clear lake. It is truly a refugee from the bustling city life. 

We walked towards Big Ben, right before crossing Westminster Bridge and then walked south-west towards Westminster Abbey for more photos.

3) Les Miserables

Firstly, it is pronounced as 'Lay Me-zeh-rab' (in English). So if you're planning to buy the tickets on the spot, learn how to pronounce this first. At first I didn't really know how it's pronounced and I was quite embarrassed that I had said it wrongly. To be honest, I'm still not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly but well it's on the internet so it must be right, right?? :) (nervous smile)

Because it is such a popular show, the better seats are bound to be gone weeks before the show even started. I think I purchased mine online on 3 weeks before the play and 90% of the good seats were gone. Thank god I managed to get a hold of 2 3rd row seats in the Dress Circle.

Since The Queen's Theatre is an old theatre (more than a 100 years old), the theatre is quite small- cramped seats with little leg space. Imagine how inconvenient it'll be if the person sitting right in the middle came late. However, the tiny theatre had a spinning stage to make up for it's size. 

Great plot. Great lighting. Great actors and really amazing songs. I really recommend this to theatre lovers who haven't seen it yet.

2) The Slug and Lettuce

Looking for amazing food that comes with a cheap price? Look no further.

The Slug and Lettuce is a national pub that serves great food and alcohol. When I first saw this on TripAdvisor, I thought 'hmm it's a pub. It's probably going to be quite cramped and loud' but I stand corrected.

Because we went in the morning, we had the whole place to ourselves but it starts to get cramped during lunch hours. We were really lucky to go on a Monday as there is a promotion every Monday. Half price off food! There is also a buy 1 get 1 free sort of deal for desserts on other days too. 

Well I had to order 2 plates of dessert for myself since I am a glutton. I really recommend this one^ . I forgot what the name is but there's the word cookie in the menu. It's basically a brownie, baked in a cookie with nuts, finishing off with a scoop of icy cold vanilla ice cream. My mouth is already watering at the thought of it.


1) Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel

Lastly, my favourite location- Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel. 

I had a bit of trouble finding the location because my phone had a little glitch. Also, the tunnel is hidden in a car park beside a skyscraper. At first we found the closed end of the tunnel and I was really disappointed because I was really looking forward to it. Then there was this guy just walking there and that was when I realize that the tunnel isn't closed. After asking a few guys in the car park, I found the entrance to this insta-worthy background heaven!!

London is truly the perfect place for art, photography and to relax. I'd definitely come back to London as there are many interesting places to go to despite being a small country.