Wanderlust-ing

Said I'd like to have American food, so Mike took me to Burgoo's at Power Plant in Makati Huge portions, the American way!

Onion rings, soup, mudpie plus a marshmallow drink

Burgoo
Didja know Burgoo is a term used for many types of stew made from a mixture of ingredients?

In particular, burgoo is a traditional Kentuckian stew, served commonly at the Kentucky Derby. It is a hodge podge of ingredients and most recipes call for a minimum 24-hour cook time. At the Derby it is served from massive iron pots into paper cups with crackers. Some people use the saltine crackers to eat the whole cup of burgoo like a dip. Churches in parts of Kentucky use burgoo much like other churches across the nation use chili for fundraising. -- info thanks to Wikipedia

Was at The Curve, freezing from the aircon so a hot bowl of noodles was really appealing. Figured Vietnamese beef noodles would be fun at Pho Hoa.

Pho Hoa restaurants feature naturally flavored, low-calorie, delicious soups with the choicest slices of brisket, flank, eye round steak,... Each bowl of soup is accompanied with fresh coriander leaves, bean sprouts, hot peppers, lemon wedges... to give the customers a complete, nutritious and well-balanced meal.

Choose this from the menu (copy taken from their website) :

Chả Giò is a fried imperial roll, with minced chicken and vegetables. These are all rolled up with rice paper and deep fried and served with (nuoc mam) a mixture of sugar, nuoc mam, vinegar, chili paste, and some strands of sliced carrots.

The Adventurer's Choice
This category specially caters those who want the most "unusual" and yet, the tastiest of meats. Why not be adventurous once and try what other choosy eaters have been enjoying?

Phở Chín, Nạm, Gầu, Gân, Vè Dòn
Noodle soup with brisket, flank, tendon, fatty, and crunchy flank

Flew by MAS to Jakarta, Indonesia. 2 hours flight on a 737. Asian Vegetarian Meal on MAS flight to Jakarta.

Taken when I checked into the hotel - Grand Hyatt Jakarta, truly your 5-star hotel.

View when about to check out of hotel.

Was going to have Japanese food for dinner, but changed my mind after looking through the menu. Figrued when in Indonesia, eat as the Indonesians - Nasi Goreng and Sop Buntut! (Fried Rice and Oxtail Soup) Loved the emping and sambal

Seen in the corridors of Grand Hyatt, Jakarta...

Soekarno-Hatta Jakarta International Airport

The lady insisted I try the Tempura Ramen. Real small servings...but good thing I ate coz they only served AVML at 10pm.

Not terribly exciting food on Y class back to KL.

Missed out on the free entrance to the Vatican Museum the day before (It's free every last Sunday of the month), so ended up with the New Year's tourists...the queue was 1 hour and 20 mins long!

According to the guidebooks, during the peak season one may have to wait in line for up to 4 hours! So maybe 1.3hrs wasn't too bad after all!

13 Euros

Egyptian Museum

Mummy of a woman from Thebes. The left eye is covered by cloth - brain was probably extracted from this side.

Decided to head to Piazza Di Spagna on New Year's Day coz I read somewhere that there were outdoor activities on Jan 1 and 2.

To my delight, music in the open Spot the feathered caps the musicians put on for the finale - the Italian national anthem. Had the pleasure of standing in front of this really good bass!

Tree of Light

I HAD to photograph the sculpture of musician!

This Spanish Steps are supposed to be the favourite flirting ground of teenagers.

Designer stores line Rome's poshest shopping strip - Via dei Condotti.

Headed back to Piazza del Popolo (piazza of the people). The clown on the bicycle had us in fits.

Punch & Judy Lunch was mexican rice + mozzarella cheese. Should have brought my chilli flakes along, rice was rather bland... Painted suitcases proved to be rather fascinating.

Concerto Corale by Our Lady of Victory Concert Choir from West Haven Connecticut at the Chiesa di S. Ignazio.

Progamme included What Child Is This, Go Tell It! Rain Down, Mary Did you Know and my all time fav, O Holy Night.

Supper - Pistachio and Hazelnut (nocciola) Gelato

Armed with this

and this

decided to do the Walking Tour by Lonely Planet.

WALK FACTS
Start: Piazza di Trevi
Finish: St Peter's Basillica
Distance: 3.5 km
Duration: 3 hours
(Most facts taken from Lonely Planet)

Trevi Fountain - Rome's most famous fountain

Depicts Neptune's chariot being led by Tritons with sea horses - one wild, one docile - representing the various moods of the sea. Trevi refers to tre vie (3 roads) which converge at the fountain.

Palazzo Chigi - 17th century square

Pallazo Montecitorio (I think!) - Italian Chamber of Deputies

Ancient Rome's best preserved building - Pantheon. Standing for 2000 years. Although a christian church since 608, the temple was dedicated to the classical gods, hence Pantheon - derivation of the Greek words pan (all) and thos (god).

Considered the Roman's most important architectural achievement - the dome - the largest masonry vault ever built. 16 Corinthian columns, each a single block of stone, supporting a triangular pediment.

Just south of the Pantheon, on Piazza della Minerva - Bernini's Elefantino. Sculpture of an elephan supporting a 6th century BC Egyptian obelisk

Chisea di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva - gothic architecture in Rome

Was still jet lagged from the 16 hour flight, so didn't manage to finish the walking tour.

My very first gelato in Rome!
Because gelato generally has less than 35% air, you get a dense and extremely flavoursome icecream

Had Grappa and Burgers while waiting for the stroke of midnite :P

Trevi Fountain at night - still as crowded

Care to drop a Euro or two?

Fireworks on New Year's Eve at Piazza del Popolo. It felt like the entire population of Rome turned up to welcome in 2007. Champagne baths and umbrellas alike!

Thanks to 59500 Krisflyer Miles, I found myself heading to Rome for New Year's Day :0

I finally get to test out the massage chairs at the Oasis Lounge, Terminal 2 near the E boarding gates - spent a relaxing 40 minutes while in transit at Singapore. Never had the opportunity before this, the past few times I tried to check out the ever popular massage chairs, these were always occupied by travellers heading to India.

My standard special request - Raw Vegetarian Meal simply because I tend to over-indulge in food when I travel, so this compensates (kinda) for the unhealthy food binge that I had planned for in Italy SIA does a wonderful job of serving raw vege creatively!

Ok, so maybe I didn't eat so healthily when it came to the snacks - Snickers! Checked out the Italian Opera on Krisworld, as well as the International films.

The Leonardo Express from the Fiumicino Airport to Stazione Termini. 45 mins trip at 11 Euros.

Stayed at this B&B for 3 nites, 35++Euro per nite, per person. Did an internet booking. Was supposed to be 100m away from St Peters, but ended up 4 stations away instead. Just a few minutes walk away from the Cornelia Metro.

Figured it's time to blog about my travels...I started on on blogspot, but let too much time pass by and yeah, I forgot my password. This time I'll stick to it, I hope :P

Let's see where I go from here