Rydges Southbank: Buffet Breakfast at Bacchus Bar and Restaurant

We received complimentary buffet breakfast meals during our two-night stay at the Rydges Southbank, available between 6 to 10 a.m. at the podium level. As we made our way into the restaurant, there was this friendly wait staff standing by at the counter, ready to allocate table for us in its warm and cozy dining area.

Pre-Birthday Trip: Rydges Southbank

Yay!!! Here's an inside scoop of my pre-birthday trip down Brisbane!!! We first stopped by Sunnybank to get my hair trimmed and colored (just touching up the roots), had Japanese for lunch, then Mr. Choo surprised me with a Deluxe King Suite with river view at Rydges Southbank *teary eyes* Honestly, it was the most luxurious room I ever stayed in in my 2X years of life.

TGIF: Hotel George Williams and Hanaichi Japanese

Our weekend was adorned with ocean breezes and sunshine down to Brisbane, Stradbroke Island, and the Gold Coast last week. It's always fun when it comes to traveling, and yet pretty exhausting at the same time as it sucks up just too much of energy. We spent most of our time, apart from exploring the Straddie Island, meeting and catching up with friends, shopping, indulging our taste buds, then traveled through the loop of shopping and indulging our taste buds all over again. 

Great Barrier Reef Road Trip Day 1: Agnes Water Beach and 1770 Backpackers

Happy Easter Monday, everybody!!! I'm officially back from my 3 days package tour to the Great Barrier Reef, still in a stage of recovering from my holiday mood and getting some rest in my home sweet home. The road trip was indeed an awesome one with my traveling buddies and Sunset Safaris, except the long hours sitting and crampy tight hips. In that very morning of departure, we met up at the Holiday Inn Hotel in Brisbane and took off around 7-ish.

Islander Resort Hotel in Surfers Paradise

After settling our tummies (yumcha in Sunnybank), we continued rolling on the highway to Gold Coast. The 50-minute journey led us all to Islander Resort Hotel, our economic one-night accommodation located in the heart of Surfers Paradise.

Little India Singapore: Hotel 81 Dickson and Sakunthalas Indian Restaurant

The Mass Rapid Transit or MRT made getting around Singapore fairly easy, without too much of walking from one place to another. From Changi Airport's Terminal 3 (CG2), we hopped onto the East West (green) Line, exited at Outram Park (EW16), then switched to North East (purple) Line, and eventually arrived at Little India (NE7).

Shen Zhen Day 1: Lee Garden Inn (丽苑酒店) and 红荔村 Restaurant

Our one-night accommodation in Shen Zhen. It took us 15 minutes in order to walk from Lao Jie Station (老街站) to Lee Garden Inn (丽苑酒店), a 3 star hotel situated at Dongmen Middle Road, Luohu District.

One Night at Ibis Hotel Brisbane

We received free accommodation from Accor again! This time around, my boi decided to give it a try at the 3.5 star rated Ibis Hotel, conveniently located in the heart of Brisbane city. And Queen Street Mall shopping precinct is just walking distance away from the place we stayed.

Hong Kong Trip Day 2: Cosmic Guest House in Tsim Sha Tsui

Our second and third night accommodation was at the Cosmic Guest House (宇宙宾馆), located in the heart of Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀). After a long tired day, we thought that we could finally take a good rest in a nice and comfy room but who knows, things were just the opposite, no good rest, no nice and comfy room, and definitely no good night sleep *unhappy* It felt as if we have fallen from heaven to hell, compared to our first night accommodation at the Disney's Hollywood Hotel.

Hong Kong Trip Day 1: Disney's Hollywood Hotel

Upon our arrival at the Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA), six of us hired a car to Disney's Hollywood Hotel instead of taking the MTR (pricey and obviously a wrong option). Can't really blame us cause we were conned by that uncle at the transportation service counter.

Novotel Brisbane: Room Service Please

In one of my earlier RiverFire trip posts, I mentioned that my boi and I were offered one-night free accommodation at the 4.5 star Novotel Brisbane. Not only that, we were also given a $50 dining voucher to be used for either in-room dining or in the hotel restaurant! So, why waste the opportunity to indulge ourselves with finger-smackingly good food under such delightful circumstance?!

Hervey Bay: Bayswater Hotel and Restaurant

In today's post, I will virtually fly you all the way from wherever you are to Hervey Bay, a beautiful city situated approximately 290 kilometres north of the Queensland's state capital, Brisbane, and lies on the coast of a natural bay between the Queensland mainland and nearby Fraser Island (according to Wikipedia, of course). As we checked-in to Peppers Pier Resort, we were given some vouchers to claim free drinks from this nearby restaurant called Bayswater Hotel and Restaurant. The meals they served can only be described with one word, "terrible"! 

Mantra On Salt Beach Kingcliff

Mantra On Salt Beach Kingcliff is a horizontally built resort located in the Tweed River Valley, on the north coast of New South Wales. We checked ourselves in at 2 something that afternoon, after two hours drive from Sunnybank. Who knows, we had to go through "nine bends eighteen curves" (九曲十八弯) only to get to our room (the pathway was really long, very very long, and our room was like a few blocks away from the lobby) to unload our luggage.

RiverFire Trip: Novotel Brisbane

After the yumcha session in Gold Coast, we drove 79.4 km back to Brisbane and got ourselves checked in to the Novotel at Creek Street. The one night accommodation was totally FREE  (yes, you heard me right!) including our in-room midnight snack, cheese plate with quince paste and crisp crackers, and American breakfast for two. Hehe, weren't we the lucky ones?

Gold Coast Trip Day 1: Mantra Legends Hotel

After having a satisfying lunch at the Golden Fortune, we came to Mantra Legends Hotel to check ourselves in as well as the luggage we brought. The receptionist was so friendly and kind to us, thanks for his thumbs up pose too. Now, I'm proud to announce that our 3 days 2 nights trip on the Gold Coast has officially begun!!!

Graduation Trip: Oaks Goldsbrough Apartment Hotel

By the time we reached Sydney Domestic Airport, it was already half past seven. Since breakfast was not provided on short-distance flight, we had to have our breakfast there in the airport.

Day 1: Top of the Mark, Gold Coast

By the time we arrived "Top of the Mark", it was already around 3 something in the afternoon. The counter in the lobby was closed as that particular day (Queen's Birthday) is a public holiday in Australia. Slowly, we unpacked our luggage and started exploring around the double-storey apartment. We were surprised to find out that the rooms are bigger than I expected.