Travel is a very subjective matter – everyone has different preferences and appetite for adventure. My preference is for food, sightseeing and light shopping. I also prefer to pack as many places to visit as possible into the itinerary. I call this Fast Travel. As for adventure, i don’t bungee jump nor scale any mountain, but i do take a rental car wherever and whenever it’s cheap to do so (it usually is). I will share with you what was worthwhile and what’s not on my trips, as well as tips that may be helpful to your trip planning.
Category: Travel
Qoo10 product recommendation – Europe prepaid data SIM
Two years ago, I discovered that Three offerred probably the best prepaid data SIM for Europe, but it was only available to UK residents. There were just a few resellers on eBay back then. Well, it didn’t take long for some enterprising ones to bulk purchase the SIM cards for sale in Singapore. Now you can buy these cards on Qoo10, and they offer 1 to 10 GB of data for 30 days for an unbeatable price of $15.90 to $49.80. Continue reading Qoo10 product recommendation – Europe prepaid data SIM
North-south highway lunch stop – Bukit Gambir revisited
This was my 3rd visit to Bukit Gambir, and this time, i went to the restaurant 侨興 that was marked on Google maps. There must be a good reason for a restaurant to be highlighted in Google Maps, especially when it shows up at low zoom levels. True enough, 侨興 is one of the few restaurants has been around for ages in Bukit Gambir.
Continue reading North-south highway lunch stop – Bukit Gambir revisited
Medan 5 days itinerary
Medan is a bustling city, being the third largest in Indonesia. Prices are cheaper here than in Jakarta and Surabaya, so if you want a cheap getaway, Medan fits the bill.
Here is an important travel tip for Medan – use Grab for cheap and efficient transport around Medan (should apply to all Indonesian cities as well). For a six-seater car, it cost only 15 to 20k (S$1.50 to S$2) for travel within Medan city, which is quite affordable. For a normal sedan, it is even cheaper.
Grab is the no brainer choice to arrange for your airport transfer, costing less than 150k (S$15) for a six-seater, plus 15k for toll. The journey takes almost an hour. Here’s how you can use Grab upon your arrival – when you exit the airport terminal, go to the parking area A (Parkir A) on the right. The Grab cars are all just waiting there. Book a car and proceed to look for the car when the driver confirms the booking. Continue reading Medan 5 days itinerary
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North-South highway lunch stop – Kampung Serom
Having passed by Kampung Serom 3 after having lunch at Sungai Mati not too long ago, I vowed to check out this place, and so i did. Except for a Char Kway Teow stall, there was no other food to be found here, so it’s not recommended for lunch, unless you just want to check out this place.
What attracts me to Kampung Serom 3, as usual, is how old the place is. The two rows of shophouses by the road look like they are at least 60 years old. Locals seem to enjoy hanging around the 3 kopitiams (especially at the two that does not serve food). Just sitting around and sipping kopi.
Continue reading North-South highway lunch stop – Kampung Serom
Okinawa 5 days itinerary
Took advantage of the now available budget direct flight to Okinawa. There’s not so much to see in Okinawa, to be honest, but it’s Japan nevertheless. Here’s what we did in 5 days.
Day 1
Ashibinaa Outlet – Aeon – Hamabe-no-chaya Teahouse – Banta Cliff
The flight touched down at budget flight kind of timing, 8am. Fortunately, the driving in Okinawa is quite well mannered, and the general speed limit of 50-60km/h is safe enough for driving under lack of sleep. By the way, I did not make use of the ETC card and i avoided the toll highway completely.
I did not plan beforehand where to have breakfast, and while driving about looking for a place, we stumbled across an A&W restaurant.
Not your usual Taiwan itinerary (Part 3)
Day 7 – I booked the Wang Gong clams picking tour (王功採蚵車摸蛤生態之旅) nearly two months ahead to ensure i got a place. You can do so via Facebook messenger, which was how i contacted them. Otherwise, you can also sign up for an adhoc tour at some of the restaurants in town, or, you could just walk to the beach area and DIY.
Not your usual Taiwan itinerary (Part 2)
Day 4 – South bound. Main attraction of the day – Brown Boulevard, named so after the advertisement shot here. Win.
Agoda just scrapped their Reward Points
I have just logged into my Agoda account, and lo and behold, i could not find the link to my Reward Points. Instead, i noticed that i had Gift Card credits. The Gift Cards have been issued on May 30, without any prior notice. One Gift Card expires end of this year, while the other at the end of next year.
I did a quick Google search and found out that some Agoda members have been given the option to switch from the Rewards Points system to the Gift Card system since last year. Now it seems the Rewards Points system has been axed and everyone is forcibly switched to the Gift Card system. Continue reading Agoda just scrapped their Reward Points
Not your usual Taiwan itinerary (Part 1)
This is my third time to Taiwan in ten years. I have been to all the major tourist attractions, save for Taroko Gorge. Nevertheless, I managed to put together a 9 days itinerary that worked well.
Our trip began with sampling the beef noodles at Ling Dong Fang. At 9pm, there was still a queue. Waiting time was 20 minutes or so.
North-South highway lunch stop – Sungai Mati
Sungai Mati means dead river, literally translated. Only now that I’ve read the Wiki entry do i understand why it is named so. You can see the Ox-bow lake from Google Maps (see below).
The detour from the North-South highway into Sungai Mati takes about 25 minutes, which is quite acceptable for a lunch break. Moreover, as with Yong Peng, you don’t have to back-track to the same Toll plaza for re-entry onto the highway, so you save a bit of time. Continue reading North-South highway lunch stop – Sungai Mati
