Sunday, August 25, 2013

Back to Ubin, after >10 years

Ubin trip was originally planned in 2014. But elite canton dinner gang founder 心血来潮 and executed our plan 1 year in advance. Early morning took our favorite prawn noodles at Beach Road for breakfast. Since the last time patronizing the store, the prawn noodles still taste like 超级无敌海景佛跳墙虾面! 
Arrived in Changi Point Ferry Terminal (CPFT) right on time but waited for organizer. While waiting, we wandered around and totally amazed by the way this place being named. It is just a jetty. 

A $2.50 boat ride brought us to Ubin at around 9am. The entrance is looks the same, maybe more bicycle store. 

Being a typical cautious SPR, nobody can decide whether to rent a bike or take a van ride. Heck la... Drink coconut juice first. 

Comparing $10 bike rental with $2 van ride, the choice was quite obvious. A local driver sent us to the main attraction on Pulau Ubin, Chek Jawa, within 10 min. 

At Chek Jawa, lots of rules to observe.
No running
No swimming
No cycling
No fishing
We followed the trial and ascended to the top of a viewing tower. A bit shaky at the top. The scorching hot sun forced us to descend after just a few minutes.

As we continue our walk into the mangrove, we notice some interesting creatures, like Fiddler crab. Tiny crab with single pincer. The boardwalk along the coastal is quite scenic, too. 


Before leading back to the public jetty, we detour to the No. 1 Chek Jawa visitor center. 

On our way back, we saw many wild boars & a nice lake.


The 3.4 km trial took us about 45 min to reach Season Live Seafood Restaurant. Exhausted. We desperately needed food. Surprisingly the food price is very similar to Siu Dou.
After a short rest, we headed back to Changi Village around 1pm. Second round, Coastal Settlement Restaurant. Can't resist the temptation of the nice looking desserts. 


Just like many other restaurant in Siu Dou, we chatted loudly across the table in a 85dB environment. 

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Smartphone is good

Just realise that i have been using smartphone only since 2010 mainly when the touch screen became widely available and android was launch. This is also when my habit of using internet explorer change to chrome which I just realised. By 2013 I am using windows 8 pro bought for sgd 50. Now we can post blog on the go with mobile apps. Cant really imagine a world without smartphone.

Saturday, August 3, 2013

I am still waiting for Malaysia 4G

I am hoping that 4G services can be deployed faster in Malaysia hopefully by 2014. Currently 4G coverage is pretty limited with 3G services also very slow. More players will enter the 4G scene like P1, Telekom and U mobile. 
Maxis is tying up with u mobile and redtone. Celcom is tying up with alltel. This leaves digi, p1 and ytl yet to consolidate. P1 was bought by telekom. Going forward all wimax player are going to deploy lte in the 2.3 ghz band
With a higher broadband speed the take up rate should be very healthy. I started using 4g in singapore in dec 2012 and blown away with the speed. 3g seems like dialup speed except for dc hspa+ which is next best option if u still dont have 4g.
Finally in 2014 I am using hotlink 4g. Speed is not bad.

Internet is omnipresent and empower travellers

When I reflect back, google map really transform the free and easy travel. Before the use of smartphone in 2009, we use google map via pc from 2005. I still remember when I did my internship in 2002 there was still no google map to use when travelling around europe.

 It is so easy to find your directions as long as there is internet. You can get a sense of direction without being there. It makes global trotting easy and in a way reduce the fear of being in a foreign land. Sometimes i put some info on this blog to remind me and let me access it on the go hehe like a cloud.

Places that I wish to go in the future somewhere cooling

Brunei/ Labuan/mulu
Bintan/ Langkawi/Penang - aka cuti cuti
Bali/Lombok/Bandung
Danang and Dalat
South Korea/ jeju
Japan/ Fukuoka/ Hakusan
Perth/ Melbourne/Tasmania
Chiangmai
Turkey
Scandinavia
Sydney-auckland-wellington