6 days in the Mongolian Gobi Desert!

Mongolia has always been a mysterious land to me. Almost always portrayed either as an enemy nation in Chinese period dramas or just shown as a land of distinct barrenness. But there is an indescribably rustic yet romantic appeal to its' vast lands and nomadic life. And that was what brought me here. In fact, my entire Trans Siberian journey was motivated by Mongolia.

After some intensive online research, I decided to stay 8 nights in Sunpath Mongolia.  Other than its tourist friendly website, the fact that they do a lot of tours was the main reason I decided to stay with them.
 

 
Mu friends were surprised when I told them I joined a tour group in Mongolia. After all, I'm known to be a free spirited DIY traveller that couldn't care less for a rigid schedule. If you are Travelling to Mongolia, here's my tip; get a guide/driver or join a travel group. Because there is NO WAY you can enjoy the Mongolian wilderness by yourself without public transport or experience in outdoor camping and navigation. Another thing to be afraid of is being robbed when you are camping alone in the vast wilderness so no, don't go alone.
 
Since I was there for only 8 nights, I settled on a 6 days tour to the Gobi Desert . This blog entry shall document my experience of those 6 days. 

Japanese Makeup Review!

I finally did this review! It was quite a bit of work and took a while for me to really test the different makeup before I reviewed them. I love travelling to Japan and I love trying out Japanese drugstore makeup. So here are some of the Japanese makeup I’ve tried and reviewed! Enjoy!

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Review: Lush Solid Shampoo

I travel frequently and because I tend to travel alone, any extra ounce of weight is really a huge burden. So it should’t come as a surprise that in my quest for the lightest and most compact travel gears, I’d venture into solid shampoos. 

While I was in France early this summer, I stayed over at a friend’s place and heard her gush over Lush’s solid shampoo. I tried a little of her’s and feel intrigued to get one of my own. Reckon I could break it apart and bring it along for a vacation. I did a bit of google work and was appalled to find out that Singapore sells the same thing for a whopping $10.81 MORE !!! It’s almost 70% more than in France! Do I need anymore reasons to get one? The staff at the store recommend I get Lullaby since I told her I wash my hair almost everyday.

Read on for my short review of the Lush Solid Shampoo.

Hada Labo Koi-Gokujyun 3D Perfect Gel (Review)

Name: Hada Labo Koi-Gokujyun 3D Perfect Gel
Price: 1,695Yen (SGD$19.42)
Volume: 100gm (Jar) 
Rating: 4/5

I bought this in Japan early this year when I was in Kansai for the Cherry Blossoms. I’ve been a fan of Hada Labo for a long while now and my favourite moisturiser from them is their Koi-Gokujyun Whitening Perfect Gel . I ran out out of moisturiser halfway through the trip (travel size container problems!) and decided to try their 3D perfect gel. Then, this product has not reached Singapore yet and it’s novelty caught my attention.

PMS jokes are not funny. Period !

I hate the end of a month. Not because I'm down to my last few penny but because I'm given the monthly reminder of my birth burden. Other than the nausea, headache, giddiness and lethargic-ness. The thing I abhor the most is the emotional roller coaster. Oh, I think they call it PMS -_-

Pic credit: found on the internet =X 

10 hours in Cologne (Germany)

Synonymously named with a type of perfume, Cologne the city has proven to be just as sweet as one.

As part of my europe solo endeavour, i took a midnight bus from Paris to Cologne. Arriving around 7am in a carpark wildly barren (to me). I somehow managed to navigate myself to a place with free toilet ( 9kg handcarry FTW) where I freshened up and to the Main Metro station. I left my bag in the awesome Leave Luggage machine for 7 euro (24 hr).

More Daiso makeup review !

I reviewed a few Daiso Makeup earlier this year in another blog post. But I thought I'd do a video review and cover some new products I've bought from Daiso. In this blog post, I'll share pictures of the product and give my written reviews. Some of the products have appeared in the first blog post and will not be repeated here.

Daiso is a Japanese thrift store that sells everything for a set price of 100yen. In Singapore, Daiso sells everything at just SGD2. Ever since the huge dip in Japanese yen, I've been saving all my Daiso purchases for Japan because 110yen (100yen + 10yen tax) is just SGD$1.3!! That's 70cents cheaper than Singapore!

Queen Helen’s Avocado & Grapefruit masque (Review)

It’s been a while since I reviewed any products. Not because I stopped my quest for the next skin saviour but more because I’ve been too tired and lazy from travelling to do any reviews haha. Anyway, I started my Christmas shopping last Sunday. Watsons was having a buy 3 get 1 free promotion and as my fourth item, I picked this baby up.

Name: Queen Helen’s Avocado & Grapefruit masque
Price: $7.50
Bought from: Watsons SG
Rating: 2/5

 

 

I’ve been struggling to keep my pores clean for the longest time but nothing seems to work by themselves. It always needed to be the whole arsenal of multiple cleansing with multiple cleansing tools , exfoliators and Sebum control gel , so on and so forth -_-.

 

So I decided to try a masque that promise to not only deep cleanse my pores but leave my skin moisturised as well.

 

 

The ugliest face mask ever (Review)!

As part of my Transsiberian trip a couple of months back, my last stop was China. And being such a fan of Taobao, it was impossible not to lug something back. I ordered a tonne of stuffs from Taobao to be shipped to my last hotel in Mt Emei. The Face mask I’m going to review here was one of my loot. Yes, it’s probably the ugliest and most disgusting looking facemask you will ever see.

 

 

Getting Data Sim in Kansai

So I visited Japan for the Cherry blossoms earlier this year. While I was there, i bought so-net’s Prepaid LTE Data Sim card. Unlike b-mobile which needs to be pre-ordered and shipped to the airport, so-net’s prepaid data sim are sold either via a vending machine or a shop inside the Airport. Which is of course, extremely useful for people who decide to splurge on a data sim card in the last minute. Not to mention the data plans are the cheapest by far.

 

Official website:  http://www.so-net.ne.jp/prepaid/en/index.html