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Yen Kai's Idea Cast

Ideas to enrich your life

Author: yenkai

Save serious money on hotel bookings

June 9, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

I have just received S$166.16 in cashback for the hotel bookings of my recent trip, no kidding! Here’s how i did it. Earn cashback through Shopback. Simple as that. Hotel booking websites take an average of 15% in commission from the hotel/accommodation provider for every booking done through their websites. Yes, that’s an awful lot of money! They’re willing to give … [Read more…]

Posted in: Spend-thrift, Travel Tagged: Cashback, Credit Card, Hotel, Rebates, Shopback

North-South Highway lunch stop – Pagoh

June 7, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

Pagoh is a very small town, with its commercial centre stretching over just 500m or so. When driving towards JB from KL, Pagoh is after Tangkak and before Yong Peng, making it a suitable candidate as a lunch stop, since it takes slightly over 2 hours to get to Pagoh. Being the very small town that it is, … [Read more…]

Posted in: Eat/Drink, Travel Tagged: Food Review, Johor, Malaysia, North-South Highway, Travel Tips

Japan destinations – Yufuin, Kurokawa Onsen and earthquake

June 2, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

The title was meant to be Yufuin, Kurokawa Onsen and Aso. Obviously, the Aso part didn’t happen. Read on to find out more. There are practically only two attractions in Yufuin – Kinrin-ko lake (pictured above) and Yunotsubo Kaido, the food/shopping street. OK, my son kept begging for me to let him take a horse … [Read more…]

Posted in: Travel Tagged: Japan, Travel Tips

Product recommendation – Kuissential Evengrind coffee bean grinder

June 1, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

I’ve finally received the coffee bean grinder i ordered from Kickstarter last year, after a delay for more than half a year, plus another half a year wait for friends from the US to bring it over. Related posts: Amazon product recommendation – barista tools and coffee beans Korea destinations – Seoul How to make … [Read more…]

Posted in: Eat/Drink Tagged: Coffee, Product Recommendation, Review

Quick Meal – Grilled oxtail and Borshch soup

May 30, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

This is a favourite quick meal. It is very tasty and yet doesn’t involve a lot of effort. We came to love oxtail especially after our visits to Indonesia, where grilled or fried oxtail is a specialty. Grilled oxtail and Borshch soup (i’m calling it Borshch soup in the sense of being inspired by it) makes a great combo because … [Read more…]

Posted in: Eat/Drink Tagged: Qoo10, Quick Meal, Recipe

Thank you Bank of China

May 30, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

All things too good to be true must come to an end, and so it did. Bank of China has finally clamped down on their “charity program” that dishes out 5% rebate on all online transactions, including payments to government services. Here is the official . I will no longer enjoy a 5% rebate for my HDB … [Read more…]

Posted in: Spend-thrift Tagged: Credit Card, Rebates

Japan destinations – Nagasaki

May 29, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

Nagasaki is small enough to be explored on foot, but taking the tram would help a lot. We arrived on an evening and did walking for the rest of the day. Fujiwara Ryokan, where we put up in, was a mere 10 minutes from Nagasaki station, though there was a bit of slope to negotiate. This was one of the best … [Read more…]

Posted in: Eat/Drink, Travel Tagged: Food Review, Japan, Travel Tips

Korea destinations – Busan

May 26, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

I came to Busan mainly for one thing – connection to Fukuoka. Busan and Fukuoka are so close to each other that you can take a 3 hours ferry ride to reach the other shore. Well, i didn’t do enough research on this, and i presumed that Jeju Air flights are as cheap as it … [Read more…]

Posted in: Eat/Drink, Travel Tagged: Korea, Travel Tips

Kitchen Hack: Frozen seared steak

May 24, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

Chanced upon this article and decided to give it a try. The recipe calls for freezing the steak and searing the steak while it is in the frozen state. I think this is especially appropriate in my case, because the steak i used is frozen steak to begin with! The recipe suggests using a heavy bottomed pot (a … [Read more…]

Posted in: Eat/Drink Tagged: Beef, Kitchen Hack

Travel bucket list: Yakushima

May 23, 2016 by yenkai Leave a Comment

Yakushima ranks among the highest rated attractions in all of Japan. It is a small island south of Kyushu with UNESCO World Heritage status, no less. Having seen the photos and generally raving reviews, I needed little convincing to decide to come here as part of my whirlwind tour of Kyushu. Related posts: Jakarta Trip Report … [Read more…]

Posted in: Travel Tagged: Japan, Travel Bucket List, Travel Tips
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About Yen Kai

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Yen Kai the spend-thrifter loves to eat, drink, travel and spend save money. He's always pondering on ideas to solve the little problems of everyday living (what to eat, where to go, what to buy, how to save money etc.) and shares them here on this blog.

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