Reviews

Best place to hang out on Kangaroo Island: Kangaroo Island Brewery

Happy Fourth of July! On this day meant for being outside and having beers and BBQ, I want to tell you about my favorite place to chill on Kangaroo Island, Australia. How I wish I was there in summer again!

Kangaroo Island Brewery is the best place to chill and have a beer on Kangaroo Island. With choice craft beers and comfy digs, there’s no where else I wanted to be after a long day of sightseeing. This was one of my favorite things to do on Kangaroo Island.

Kangaroo Island Brewery the bar

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[Travel gear] Ably women’s shirt and hoodie review

If you’re in the market for wrinkle free travel clothes or travel shirts for women, you are in luck! I’m a sucker for practical things, especially on Kickstarter. So, I backed Ably and got my 2 shirts and hoodie in September 2016. I have been using them relentlessly the past month and a half while in Australia and Asia. Here’s my review and thoughts from road testing my Ably shirts for women (plus hoodie!).

Updated 11 February and 28 March 2017

Hanson Bay on Kangaroo Island

Hanson Bay on Kangaroo Island

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Iguaneye shoes from above on wood panels

[Travel Gear] Iguaneye shoes review #freemyfeet

It’s been about 2 years since I’ve worn flip flops, and much longer since I bought a pair. I find they usually don’t fit my feet that well, and they aren’t so good for my feet in general. Until now, I had’t found something to replace them. This is my Iguaneye shoes review for an alternative to flip flops or sandals.

Updated on 31 December 2016, 12 February 2017, and 22 March 2017 from my 3 month trip! See below.

Iguaneye shoes

Enjoying the ocean view on Kangaroo Island in Australia

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My fellow PhD student, D, at Rochester Park in search of coffee!

[Review] A slow afternoon at Jimmy Monkey cafe

Cafes! I love me a nice cafe. Although Asian countries aren’t known to be full of coffee drinkers, but Singapore has more hip cafes every time I go back. Singapore cafes I like have to have a really nice vibe to it. This one does, and I would return!

It was a hot, hot day. I thought I could collapse on the walk to Jimmy Monkey, and it was only about 450 meters from where I started out for lunch just before.

It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but on the inside there were good vibes all around. They had a nice big communal table in the center of the room, with plenty of books and magazines around to browse through. The ceiling was high, with exposed fixtures. One large corner had a few windows and a few couches for lounging. Most of the other tables were small round or rectangular tables for a few people at a time. We took seats at the end of the big table, smack in the middle of the room.
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Inside the Meow Parlour cat cafe in New York City

Back in December, I wrote about going to the first official cat cafe in New York City as being one of the things on my to do list when I visited home. This past May, I finally made it there…for about half an hour.

I thought I would want to stay for hours. But I didn’t. The cats were beautiful and cute enough, but it just didn’t feel like the cat cafe that I’ve been waiting for. (And maybe this cat feels the same way). Continue Reading

Pizza with bacon, cheese shavings, arugula or rocket, and egg in the middle The English Breakfast, $24 SGD

[Review] Skinny Pizza (Westgate Mall, Jurong East, Singapore)

Pizza! I couldn’t live without it. Recently, I shared a pizza at Skinny Pizza in Singapore (Westgate Mall, Jurong East). This is my Skinny Pizza review.

Its style of pizza uses a crunchy, cracker like base instead of the doughy base that pizza is known for. This is probably what makes it so “skinny,” because it will have fewer calories than a traditional pizza crust (even thinner than thin crust). I’m a New Yorker, so I’m a little tough to impress when it comes to pizza.

Skinny Pizza restaurant sign

Skinny Pizza in Westgate Mall in Jurong East, Singapore


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brunch menu on wooden table Ambience was nice at W 39 Bistro, I'll give them that!

[Review] W 39 Bistro review (Clementi, Singapore)

The nice part about living in a new place is finding little things tucked away that make you feel like you know a secret. W 39 Bistro is one of those things. It is smack in the middle of a residential area (landed properties, aka houses, which are not that common in Singapore). It is in the West along the East-West line, the nearest train station is the Clementi MRT station.

I went to W 39 Bistro on two occasions: once for brunch, and once for dinner. The brunch wasn’t a real brunch, because we only ordered coffees and the bread basket. The dinner was a light one, where we only ordered appetizers and tapas and no mains. I had some issues with feeling really cheated on one dish, but overall the experience was ok.
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[Review] Cafe Bicycle (Bangkok) review

Cafe Bicycle near Phloen Chit BTS station in Bangkok

From what I’ve heard, this cafe has closed down. That’s really too bad. It was a nice place!

Another cafe you might like is Too Fast to Sleep, or you can check out this list.

Cafe Bicycle is another coffee shop in Bangkok that I recently visited on my trip to Thailand. It is tucked away under the Phloen Chit BTS station. It’s a cute cafe with a sustainability angle and modern vibe. It isn’t a very big place, but it is pretty cute and comfy! Continue Reading

[Review] Too Fast To Sleep in Bangkok

Too Fast To Sleep is a coffee shop or cafe in Bangkok, Thailand near the Sam Yan MRT station, and a short walk from the Sala Daeng BTS station. This is my Too Fast to Sleep review.

In addition to having a pretty awesome name, this coffee shop is a cool place to settle in and get some work done. Like the name suggests, it is open 24 hours and 7 days a week. Although I haven’t seen much of this city, I think this is my new favorite hangout in Bangkok… Continue Reading