Dead Sea, Jordan

How many places can you jump into the water and stay afloat without doing anything? Not many!! (screaming with excitement) as the next place I went is Dead Sea. Dead Sea has the highest level of salt, hence the reason why you will be floating. It has one of deepest saltiest body of water. Whilst in the car, we are still contemplating which particular beach we would like to go. There are a few options either to go on the public beach or to the private ones. Privates one are owned by the hotels so be prepared to pay the entrance fee.

Since we are planning to take a plunge, we decided to go to Movenpick Dead Sea Hotel. It is a 5 star hotel right around the Dead Sea. The entrance fees is quite steep, GBP45 per person (including the buffet) So it was not too bad for a once in a lifetime experience..

It was hot in Jordan  during that time and taking a plunge in the Dead Sea was a moment we all have been waiting for. As easy as it seems try to relax (note to everyone). You will be stumbling over a few times before finally learning how to balance yourself and float effortlessly. Take it from me as evidenced in the pictures below...

Doing the standard pose in Dead Sea, reading a book while floating

Group pose..yihaaa!!

It is a must to 'mud' yourself up in the Dead Sea. Our skin feels super soft afterwards..au natural!!

It's off to the inifinity pool afterwards. The entrance includes all these amenities...

 

 

Dead Sea with Israel across on the other side

 

So we are all full from the buffet and had ticked our bucket list. Off to next destination, the capital city of Jordan...Amman.

Iketeru, Hilton Kuala Lumpur

 

Dinner tonight will be in the exclusive Japanese restaurant-Iketeru. The restaurant is located at Level 8 of the Hilton Hotel and it is helmed by the affable Japanese executive chef, Ricky Kamiishi.

The dinner is to celebrate the department's success of one year and to kick start the next challenging year. I am always excited to try out new places as part of the gastronomy experience, especially when it involves certain refinement in the preparation of the food.

Wearing dress from LawaLawa, a new shop that I stumbled upon in Publika. Dressed to occassion is something I love to do!!

Iketeru is decorated to a refined taste. There is aquarium and patrons have the option of dining in front of the chefs, or even private room. Since there is a group of us we did have an allocated private room. It was so zen-like!! Obviously when you go to Japanese restaurant you would have expected this anyway...

Chopsticks and well set napkins on the dining table. I am officially obsessed with dinner table settings....

 

As soon as were were seated by the lovely waitress, we quickly ordered. To be honest the only thing I love about Japanese food is their sushi. There rest I am not that bothered. I remembered having sushi for my daily breakfast when I was doing Yunnan audit mission. So first thing to order is SUSHI, definitely!!

I then went clueless on what to order for my main. So I asked the waitress to help me out.....and she suggested yaki soba. It was good actually but yup I am still in love with sushi.

This is small selection on the house for people who are fasting..that's me!!

Salad with mushroom

With Rose, she took me out for lunch on my first day in the department

 

The team!! From the look of it, everyone is all excited for the coming year...haha. (ps- I am far at the back the size of an ant)

The evening ended well with all the team sharing their life experiences...not the young ones though as they still need to experience the life ahead of them. There will be reward waiting for those who are willing to work hard... Bring on the new year!!

Caramel Room, The Berkeley, Knighstbridge

Afternoon tea is an old English institution. The typical traditional tea is served in a pot, scones with cream and jam, finger sandwiches and dainty cakes... nothing could be more British than afternoon tea in London. However, there are now different variation to these tradition and one of them is at The Berkeley. The price is GBP60 per person. A tad pricey but it is worth paying especially when it involves miniatures cakes of shoes, bags and dresses from renowned designers...

Since I will be moving back to Malaysia for good, my dear friend decided to treat me to Caramel Room. It is for all the fashion fan out there. The éclairs, cakes and fancies are all inspired by the latest fashion collections, and are served in miniature mouthfuls for the figure-conscious.Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and the Beckhams have all been spotted here.

Afternoon tea fashionista style!! On top tier is the Mulberry’s white chocolate crème de menthe & raspberry mousse

The Berkeley, Knighstbridge- the most famous ad

Dressed to the occasion. Dress from Mango

Tea set from Paul Smith

The afternoon tea is so chic. You have a wide variety of choices from sandwiches, biscuits, cakes and endless list of tea. We are spoilt for choices..

Salmon and crab

Cheese cake

Nautical Fendi red & white striped vanilla cake filled with fraise de bois crémeux accessorised with oversized yellow button

Left:Miu Miu 1950's inspired vanilla bikini biscuit with red hot icing and playful white bow
Right: Valentino lemon and raspberry cheese cake with signature flowery detail

The three of us could not stop eating... It was such a good experience and a bit of advice to all fashionistas out there this is MUST TRY!!

Goodie bag

Christian Louboutin's must-have neon-yellow high heeled chocolate biscuit with signature red sole

Three happy ladies

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park!! The ultimate reason of flying all the way to Africa. The game reserve which is famous worldwide.Kruger is  the first game reserve opened in South Africa which houses all the wildest animals that you could ever imagine.

We traveled on the road for almost 7 hours from JoBurg to Kruger. The thought of seeing those animals is just overwhelming and excitement is building up as we head our way towards one of the most famous national parks in the world.

We slept at one of the nearest place. Building up our tent and relaxing over the night.

The next day, we depart early in the morning. We managed to see the main animals except for lion. The best is when we saw the leopard. It was a teenager leopard eating an impala. We managed to see this is as the park rangers informed each other too. We were the second jeep arrived at the scene. After that, there were queues of cars waiting to see the leopard eating the impala. It is such a rare sight as leopard are known to hide away from other animals. They are usually the lone ranger and usually hunt at night.. To see one just made our day!!

We were going round in search of lion but failed miserably. The Big 5 -lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino. So the only one we did not see was just lion. Perhaps one day...

National Geographic moment- I saw it with my own eyes!!

Elephants

Warning- Animals FREELY crossing the road

Group of rhinos

Impala

Leopard chilling out

Game on!!

The first animals we saw - The Buffalos

A word of caution, once you have seen the animals in the game reserve you will never want to go and see them in the zoo again...It would never be the same.