Deta/ exide
Varta
Fiamm
Delkor
Amaron
Cworks
Post COVID asean saw its first hsr in the form of Jakarta Bandung hsr in Indonesia opened in 2023.
Laos on the other hand started its medium speed rail from Vientiane to kunming in 2022. One can travel across Laos within 4 hrs. That’s quite a major revolution.
All the above projects come about due to China. Next train project coming online is ecrl from Kl to Kota baru and bkk to Nakhon ratchasima hsr sometime between 2027 -2030.
China is also busy extending it medium speed rail 250kmh from kunming to hekou and nanning to pinxiang. Both lines will connect to Vietnam. It will just take ard 2 hrs to reach the border of Vietnam once this train is up. The border train to Vietnam was open in 2024 between Nanning to dongxing. Travel time is 70 minutes.
From there on it will depend on the respective asean countries how will they want to enhance their connectivity to China
2024 QR clearance on sg checkpoints
2025 ets jb kl
2026 apics at tuas
2027 rts jb-sg
2028 first phase of woodland ciq expansion and apics clearance
China is embarking an ambitious project to connect all 4 major airports Zhuhai, Macau, hk and Shenzhen into a massive network via hsr, ferry and Zhuhai-Macau-hk bridge. Total airport capacity will exceed 250 million per year
Last visited Brunei in 2020 before covid started. Hopefully will get a chance to revisit. Toohje always say Brunei is boring but I say road trip is always fun. Chubby fat cheek has visited Brunei once. Kk to Brunei pan Borneo section will be ready hopefully by 2025.
We have tried Miri to Brunei and hope we can revisit Brunei hehe, drive to the temburong bridge and eat some cheap Japanese food there.
celcom digi 2gb per day rm 98 for 55 countries valid 30 days
eskimo 30 gb USD 30 for 82 countries valid for 2 years
airalo 20 gb USD 69 for 124 countries valid for 1 year
Penang, Cameron and Ioi city
Kuantan with ecrl and ets
Trx, luge park, gpo, kidzania
Kluang hill
Recently visited genting highlands, janda baik and kukup
1. Ireland - Dublin and Belfast - June summer
2. Scotland - Glasgow and Edinburgh - June summer
3. Australia - tasmania -Dec/ cairns - June / brisbane/ sydney
4. Japan - naha- dec, osaka, fukouka, nagoya, Hokkaido
5. Finland/ Norway/ Sweden in June summer
6. South Korea - Seoul/ Jeju
7. HK-Guangzhou
8. Vietnam - Danang, dalat, fansipan
9. Austria - June summer or Dec during Xmas
1. E-wallet/ QR local and cross border acceptance
2. E-sim with cheap data roaming validity of more than 1 year like eskimo
3. Google map that makes driving or taking transport easier to navigate
4. Proliferation of booking app for hotels and activities like agoda, trip or klook
5. Budget airlines & trains availability
6. E-gate at airport that make immigration clearance so much faster
7. No forex credit card like trust and you trip that reduce the need to carry lots of foreign cash. You can even skip the card if u have apple pay
8. Smart phones which can basically provide entertainment during long train/ bus ride and it will reduce print since most of the information is either in the whatsapp, internet or email
Basically to travel u need data, money and passport
When we went to Taiwan recently, we realised there are also reputable local hotel chain that are quite value for money and conveniently located. The reason why it was not marketed more widely as compared to international chain which are more expensive. Next time will try it on our next stay and if possible mix local with international chains. All hotels preferably comes with free laundy self service
Example in taiwan is Mitsui Garden, Chateau de Chine, Cozzi, Silk/ Just sleep and Fullon
In Japan, there are even more local chains that are worth trying out like Mitsui Garden, Tokyu stay, Tokyu Rei, Prince, Royal Park Hotel, Lively Hotel, Okura
Taiwan is not very big, about the size of Pahang, Malaysia (~36,000 sqkm) but there are many different type of geological features such as mountain, river, seaside, lake, cliff, rocks etc. Each County has it's own unique attractions & experience. So this year 2024 we had our first family trip in Taiwan for 8D7N. 8-15 Mar. Celebrated my birthday, too.
General itinerary
Day 1,2: Kaohsiung
Day 3,4: Kenting
Day 5: Maolin
Day 6: Tainan
Day 7,8: Taoyuan
Took EVA flight for the first time from SIN-TPE. Also first time taking B-777. The plane is new, big, spacious and comfortable. The kids enjoyed the journey because of free flow juice and non-stop in-flight cartoon. Half way through H. spilled some orange juice, wet her clothes and changed into rapper style outfit.
The flight touched down on time at 6pm. Cleared immigration in about 30min. But the transit from Airport > MRT > THSR > MRT plus all the walking, we finally checked in to our first hotel at Yanchengpu at about 1030pm. Everyone slumbered into deep sleep almost immediately.
Except of the little one... Already in her dreamland while on the road
Kaohsiung local transport is convenient. The MRT system is similar to SMRT. Distance-based fare system. Each trip cost us about NT20-30 per person. We keep reminding everyone that H. IS STILL 5-YO so all public transport is free. No seat though.
From Kaohsiung to Kenting
Auntie E. pre-booked the local transport from 橘子猫 tttrips.com. The package include a local driver drove us around and provide tour guide service. Total cost shared between 8 person. We paid $584+$42 tips.
8人提供九人座VAN (中文司導) 費用共 NTD33500
2 Days in Kenting
a lot of walking in the mountain, park, lakeside, seaside, old town, night market.
Pingtung
Tandem paragliding at the age of fabulous 40-ish is something that I didn't plan for. When there is an opportunity, just seize it.
Tainan
Guided by a local is totally a different experience. He brought us to places where we have not heard off.
Taoyuan. Getting ready to go home
Before heading to Taoyuan, we visited the Kaohsiung Train Station currently under construction. The train station seems like located in the middle of a very big roundabout.
Learning from the first trip, our return trip on THSR was much more pleasant with food and drinks fully prepared. By noon, we checked in to our last hotel, Novotel at Taoyuan Airport. Purposely choose that place to catch the early flight on the next day.