Author archive
13 June 2014
If you’re a solo traveller in Biak and wish to dive, you’ll have to be very lucky or very rich. Try to come with some friends otherwise will cost you! There aren’t many travellers or divers around so if you don’t team up with them, you’ll end up shelling a bomb for a private trip. […]
12 June 2014
I woke early again. After breakfast, I headed to the Police Station to drop off the photos for my travel permit. The lady said the permit was more or less done and was just pending the photos and I could come collect it in an hour. I hopped on a ojek (motorcycle taxi) to Gua […]
11 June 2014
Having retired last night at 2030 (and also slept till midday yesterday), I was surprised to wake around 0600. Especially when my body was on NZ time (3h difference). I expected to feel really alert and raring to go, which is usually the case when I travel west. No, I felt sluggish. After breakfast, I […]
10 June 2014
It was an ungodly departure of 0115 from Makassar. The 2h45 flight to Biak (off the northern coast of Papua) took off slightly late and landed again just slightly late too. The actual flying time was less and with the hot meal and a snooze we landed in no time (well about 0500 actually). On […]
9 June 2014
Killing a day in Bali I woke around 0600 in Bali and headed out for a morning walk soon after 0700 around Kuta. Balinese tend to wake early but that doesn’t hold true in partytown Kuta. It was dead. There were some people on the beach and a couple of people surfing. The Balinese surf […]
8 June 2014
Luggage at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport took forever. I took a taxi to the Tune Hotel in Kuta which I had booked for NZD17 (including aircon and towel options). Being central, clean and comfy, it was exactly what I needed for the night. It was straight to bed as it was about 3am in Auckland […]
8 June 2014
This trip centred around going to the UK to attend my nephew’s wedding. I managed to snap up a cheap Air NZ fare to Bali flying during the first week of their seasonal operations which was highly discounted; I qualified for a further discount through my partner who works at the airline. Woohoo! It made […]
25 April 2014
Following on from my red bean cheesecake, I had always wanted to create a red bean crumble. It took me ages before I had… Posted by Alex Chan on Thursday, May 15, 2014
20 April 2014
My philosophy with food is that if it contains enough sugar, fat, salt or MSG, then it will taste good (but there are… Posted by Alex Chan on Saturday, April 19, 2014
13 April 2014
I decided to cook to celebrate two birthdays. Sundanese it is, not Sudanese. That's West Javan, from the Bandung area,… Posted by Alex Chan on Sunday, April 13, 2014