Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Batam Firstimer

What can we do in Batam for less than $200?

Morning take ferry ($44) from 小岛 to Batam. It takes an hour to reach Batam. Get a immigration stamp on your passport (priceless). Go do SPA (range from $30 to $50) for ~3 hours. Have lunch at Golden Prawn ($14). I guess this is the only decent restaurant in town. The food is so-so only. If you fancy some Kuih Lapis ($24 for 1.5kg), order before SPA and collect it after lunch. Fresh from oven. Get ready to go back to Ferry Terminal. Collect ferry ticket and then do some shopping in the MegaMall across the street. Buy 2 packets of Lays potatoes chips ($0.90 per pack), some J.Co donut ($8.10 for a dozen) and A&W rootbeer ($2). They use soft ice-cream... Weird.

Sea port tax in SG $20 and Indo $7. Comparing Vivocity + HarbourFront + NEL + Seah Im to Batam MegaMall, we will roughly know why there is such a big difference.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Why am I Unhappy in KL

1. The house very very very uncomfortable. I don't like to stay inside the house. There is nothing to do except watching TV. But there is no curtain in the living room. The window is facing west somemore. Very glaring and hot.
2. The toilet cannot flush properly. There is always some leftover in the toilet bowl either tissue or you know what...
3. For our room, nothing has been changed besides the bedframe. All the other furniture remain the same 20-year-old furniture. Light is dim and no dressing table nor mirror available. On 27 Nov 09, we had our wedding in KL. After the dinner, I can't even remove my make up thoroughly. I told you I wanted curtain in the room way before our wedding. The curtain was finally done up in the very morning after our wedding dinner. Initiated again, by me!! Because I was waken up by the rising sun. I felt sooooo.... pathetic.
Did I ask for too much? Just some curtain and minor repair works at home....

Monday, December 21, 2009

Becareful when roaming overseas

When u go overseas, the incoming charge, outgoing charge and data charge are quite expensive. (per min basis)

incoming charge is how much singapore calls to your location eg 70 cents

outgoing could be either local 50 cents , singapore 60 cents or overseas. Currently overseas outgoing via smart roam is the cheaper option becos u need to pay the location to singapore charge 70 cents ( usually same rate with incoming call) and then a zonal charge xx cents. If you do a outgoing direct overseas it will cost a flat rate of $4

So think twice. Data is more expensive on a per MB basis unless a flat rate per day is applicable otherwise it could cost a bomb.

Singtel recently came out with a travel SIM which gives u 2 number overseas and singapore number on the same sim. whether your caller is local or overseas there are no roaming charge for u or the caller. But there is a monthly charge of 10 dollar per number but receiving calls is practically free

location sin -> sin caller local rate ; overseas caller local rate (via overseas number)
location overseas -> sin caller local rate via sin number ;overseas caller local rate