Every decade visit Vietnam will see many changes in the country. In 2024, mrt opened in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.
Saturday, December 21, 2024
Sunday, May 26, 2024
Singapore development plan
Every 5-6 years Singapore will update two important documents.
1. The land transport masterplan 2019
2. URA master plan 2019
This document charts Singapore planning for the next 20 years. It’s involves zoning, reclamation and land use to cater for the future needs of the population.
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Monday, April 8, 2024
ASEAN hsr
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
Upcoming cross border land checkpoint improvements
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
Sunday, April 7, 2024
4 airport system in southern china
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
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Last visited Brunei in 2020
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.
Cheapest worldwide data roaming among telco
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
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Cuti2 Malaysia tour
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
Saturday, March 30, 2024
Countries that I want to visit or revisit
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
Things that make cross border travel more convenient in the last 5 years
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
Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Local hotel chain vs international hotel chain
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
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Brisbane and Gold Coast Feb 2018
Last visit to Australia before covid struck and ETA long wait and hassle become a pain in the ass. That was the last long trip for Sabri before mei mei is born. Only in 2024 did I realised nothing is being blogged for this Brisbane trip 6 years ago. Time flies with chubby fat cheek.
We went to Mount Tambourine. I still remember the Emirates flight arrived very early in the morning, so we need to scramble for a hotel at Pullman near the airport. It was quite an adventure with Sabri tired and lots of uncertainty.
Best weather to visit Australia, basically during winter June go to the north and summer Dec go to the south.
Perth/ Adelaide - Apr
Melbourne/ Sydney - Aug to Sep
Brisbane - Apr/ Aug
Tasmania - Dec/ Jan (summer)
Cairns - June to Sep (winter)
When covid struck, I was grounded for more than 4 years. Literally no flying and only go for cuti cuti. Start to appreciate how big is Malaysia and hope by 2025 ETS KL-JB will be up and running.
In 2022 I planned to revisit Brisbane and Sunshine Coast with my kids but didnt manage to go. Post covid the cost of flight has increase by 50% at least.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Converted from android to iOS
One of the main reason why I changed from android to iOS was because of Apple Pay. I started using iPhone 6 in 2016 once Apple Pay was launched. I find it very secure and easy to use the contactless payment.
Finally in 2022, Malaysia iPhone user can pay via Apple Pay on certain bank credit cards.
It has come a long way in Singapore since contactless payment begin, ezlink card launched in 2001 for mrt payment and first mass payment method visa Paywave was launched in 2007. This is followed by mobile contactless in 2016 and e-wallet QR payment started ard 2017.
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Cars don't Live on Petrol Alone, But also Battery, Tyre and Many More
Apr 2017, Car mat, $170
Dec 2019, 4 tyres, $540
April 2022, Tyre punctured right at the end of WFH. Replace all 4, $600
Mar 2023, Battery
Sep 2023, tried to be environmentally friendly, hit a curb real hard and punctured 1 tire. $240
May 2024, Roof lining dropped since a year ago. Finally willingly part with my money and repaired it at Chong Leather in JB. RM500
Finally...
Finally jump ship from expensive Singtel postpaid
Over the years singapore telco has been increasing their postpaid plan price. With the advent of 5G, the prices has gone to unreasonable level above 55 sgd per month such that the cost of the plan is not able to subsidize by the cheaper cost of the iphones
So in Apr 2022 i decided to jump ship to TPG 10 dollar plan. However TPG speed and coverage left much to be desired. Hence in 2023, i decided to change to Singtel MVNO that offers cheap 5g data with data roaming to neighbouring countries.
A brief history of mobile data use
3g is the beginning of 12gb generous data given when speed is still between 3mbps to 14 mbps sometime around 2009
Once 4g began in 2012, the data started to be drastically reduced to 2gb. People demand for data during this period is still manageable. By 2018 I think the usage is ard 10gb per month. That is also when Singtel changed its flexi 2012 plan to combo plan 2014 and then to combo xo 2018.
Then comes simba and many mvno in 2018 and 2019 which flooded the market with 50-100gb data in the mobile plan. The data explosion comes with a big drop in the mobile price plan between 10-20 sgd per month. Major telcos are slow to react besides they are busy building the first 5g network in 2020-2021.
Sometime in 2018 the concept of mobile data roaming is becoming affordable. However due to COVID ended in 2022 that we truly embrace the usage data roaming broadly.
By 2024, I think ard 40% of customers has switched to the minor telco which leads to a drop in profits for the major telco.
Comparing Ruth's Chris Set Lunch Near Me
To celebrate my birthday, we brought the kids to Ruth's Chris Steak House in Kaohsiung thinking the price should be cheaper than Singapore. We were not disappointed at all. The restaurant is located in a very unexpected office building. The tables are spaced out generously. The interior is quiet but the waitress were attentive. They tirelessly explained the difference between medium and medium well and also the effect of the heated ceramic serving plate. To ensure we don't overcook the beef. After a long briefing, someone asked, "Can we have 6分熟?" Someone please tell me what is 6分熟??!!
We ordered from the set menu. It came with a glass of Moscato, S. had her first sip of alcohol, and I drank the rest. Then we gobble gobble the free flow bread and soup. The soup is probably too salty for the kids palate. By the time the tasty beef steak was served, they were half full already hahaha. One of the ladies clean the bread crumbs from our table at least 3 times. The beef is tender and flavorful.
2024 We went to the one in Kaohsiung
Hong Kong
Philippines
Singapore
Jakarta
Taiwan Trip in the Southern Part after 12 years... with friends and kids
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.
At Dream Mall, we took the Ferris wheel and played at the mini tiny theme park for a while.
From Kaohsiung to Kenting
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.
Will look like this when completed in Year 2025
We can't really see anything beyond the hoarding, but the site is definitely quite big. We walked some more, ate some mos burger and went back to hotel to check out.
Formosa Boulevard metro station 美麗島站
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.
The hotel is chic, cozy but not cheap. 1-night is already more expensive then 2-night at Chateau de Chine. Room is quite small. 2 single beds must park together to fit all 4 of us. Sofa also serves as fall protection. Luckily everything is moveable. A giant panda took up some space, too.
After dropping off our luggage, we went back to the THSR train station for lunch and some shopping. There is a Gloria Outlet Mall. Walking around the compound already made me feel like spending. Exactly the same feeling I had at Genting Premium Outlet. Cooling weather always entice people to spend. But before that, we need food! There are many choices and non of the shops are crowded. Could that be any problem with the food? No... food is delicious, affordable, service is good. Completely opposite of Singapore food scene.
Hotel lobby is equipped with 3 iMac for guests. 2 young guests were spotted hoarding the iMac playing online game after a cheap Ippudo takeout meal.
The next day is again a mad rush. Woke up at 6am. Packing up and left hotel at 730am. Good thing that Novotel provide complementary airport transfer. Once reached the Terminal 2, get tax refund. The process is very seamless. The staff just need to check the form completed by Gloria Outlet then we can tap our credit card at the kiosk. Less than 5 min we are done. Next stop, check in counter. Taoyuan Airport is very busy, full of people, long queue everywhere. Luckily we checked in online the day before otherwise how can we look so happy at the bag drop counter?
The remaining of the journey is basically relax, eat, drink, watch movie and play game on the flight. Vacation cannot be too long 6-8 days is just nice.
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