7 things I learn on my 3 weeks in the UK

1. British people loves Football!
   • The fact that hundreds of thousands of fans watching and discussing football in and outside various stadiums every week says it better than anything else.
   • Watching football looks like a (habit,) family outing and sometimes a festival to British people
2. They’re superbly punctual. I mean on time is late.
   • Buses (except in York) always arrive on pre-specified time. Some if arriving the bus stop early, the bus driver will stop, “take a break” until the exact arriving timing (it looks kinda weird though).
   • They don’t call and wait for latecomer even if you’re 5′ late #Stonehenge #Tour #London-to-Manchester :O
   • They give everyone a full refund if their trains start later than 60′ #Virgin #York-to-London
3. Their transportation “sucks” – I mean not as convenient as in Singapore!? Singapore does get the benefits of the being small though. Literally.
   • There is no universal way for customers to pay across the country (using the same card – same thing in China)!
     Bus drivers needa handle (cash/coin) ticket payment. This is fine if it’s a optional way of payment but it looks like most people buy tickets on the bus. As many doesn’t return you change, we’d better prepare the exact amount 😀
   • I’m still wondering why they don’t scan people’s stuff before boarding the train though we surely can. Not Safe! #Terrorism #MassKilling
   • There is basically only one door on most buses :O
   • Most people park their car on the road causing traffic jam on small roads, which are popular in some cities like York & Edinburgh. Again they can surely build some specific buildings for parking, but I don’t know why they don’t (e.g even in small city like Singapore there are parking lots at almost all shopping malls and residential areas).
4. They’re way ahead of most other countries not only economically but also culturally and architecturally. The later probably leads to the former result!?
   • Judge a country or a city by its libraries and museums respectively.
5. They manage to keep most buildings and its architecture built thousand years ago. As a matter of fact, people are still living and working in those ancient buildings which apparently don’t affect its development.
   • It’s the People who create history – not environment (or things) which apparently ain’t that influential.
6. There is hardly any night life in the UK even in London. Almost everything (except private bars and clubs) is closed at 6 – max. 7pm.
   • Apparently, it’s boring at night not only in UK but probably in Europe too, which is totally different from big Asian cities such as SGP, SG & Bangkok.

Some weird things:

• There is no “close” button on most of their lifts. Why? :O
• There is basically only one (front) door on most buses around UK (except some classic red double-decker buses in London). Why again? 😀
  • I like how people almost always say “thank you” to the bus driver when alighting from the bus.
• Their cabs look cool albeit expensive! Uber saves us!!!

Experience the so-called “jet lag”. I adapt very well! Sleep well on my 2nd day in UK!

I had problems sleeping when coming back to SGP though. Lost sleep for almost 5 days… Sleep at 12pm and wake up at 3-4am…

A 6-day Boracay Trip on April 2017

Arrival

• Singapore’s direct flight to Kalibo via Tiger: almost 3 hours 40′ (11am – 2.40pm)
• Kalibo airport to Caliclan port: 1 hours 30′ @ 1,000 PHP for a private cab including free boat tickets.
  Apparently, they have 2 different pricing for tourists and locals. So it’s cheaper if the local buys tickets for us (which cost only 25 Peso per pax). They also have a door-to-door package for 1,500 PHP, which seems quite over-priced.
  It will be cheaper – just 250PHP per pax – if you take a van instead.
  But actually it’s not that expensive considering we can ask the cab driver to stop us for lunch, which you can’t if taking a van. He took us to a small yet seemingly popular restaurant called “Ramboys” & was nicely willing to wait for us. The food here is quite nice & cheap as the portion is quite big. Recommended!
  

  Only 700 Peso for this meal!

• At Caliclan port, we need to pay certain fees ourselves:
  • Terminal fee: 100 PHP per pax
  • Environmental fee: 75 PHP per pax
• We’ve gotta pass through something like a “net ladder” with our luggage to reach the boat. It is a small boat – just big enough for everyone to have a seat. There are enough life jackets for everyone though.
• After reaching Boracay – Cagban Jetty port, we need to take a tricycle from the port to our hotels. Somehow the first driver didn’t know about our hotel. We walked outside the gate and found another. After a few minutes bargaining, we settled it down from 150 to 100 Peso which he agreed. After 15-20′ drive, the guy seemingly & unfortunately mistook our hotel. He gotta make a u-turn a few times!? He became frustrated as the time passed by. At the peak of his frustration, he even told us to get out and walk – claiming the hotel is just 30 meters away & his tricycle couldn’t go in while in reality the lane seems big enough for even 2 tricycles.Eventually he asks a local motor rider to lead the way. The correct lane to our hotel is actually the next one.
  At that lane, he once again refuses to go in with us saying the same reason then asks for another 50 peso for the motor guy which we refuse to pay as we haven’t seen our hotel yet and not sure if this is the correct way. After some arguments, the tricycle driver just left without taking any money… LOL. We’ve gotta carry our luggage – following the motor rider guy through the small lane and reach our hotel after 5-10′ walk. We ended up giving him 120 Peso. We don’t mind giving them more tips if only they served us a lit bit better.

Departure

• We’re advised by the hotel staff to go there 5 hours before the flight time. We’re leaving at 10am.
  Take a tri-cycle from our hotel to Boracay – Cagban jetty port: 250 Peso in total shared with another couple – 125 Peso per couple.
• Right at the port, we buy a Boat + Van ticket from J’JAD tours: 250 Peso per pax. Remember to keep your receipt for inspection later on the van.
  
  • The “Boracay Express” boat is like a huge tourist yacht compared to the small boat we took 1 week ago – more spacious & less people – only around 10 people on our trip. There is even very strong signal WIFI available though the distance is very short. Overall it’s a very pleasant 15′ ride.
• We also need to pay 100 Peso per pax for the Terminal Fee at Cagban Jetty Port
• After reaching Caliclan port, we needa walk a bit to the bus terminal where there are “Boracay Express” staff who will be looking for you. It’s important to wear the provided sticky tag so that they can recognize you quickly.
  Taking the van is actually not that bad as I thought. It’s a very smooth journey. There are just enough seats – no one has to stand though it takes slightly longer than the private cab we took – almost 2 hours – as they sometimes stop along to the way to fetch people and there is another stop before the airport, where all the locals stop here.
• At the Kalibo airport, we’ve gotta pay a surprisingly high International Passenger Terminal Fee for 700 Peso/pax
• Our flight lands around 30′ earlier than scheduled (~3 hours in total). We reach Singapore at 6plus in the evening.

Lessons Learned:

• Never EVER EVER change money at the airport (be in on the departure or arrival). It confirms even much worse than the tourist destination’s money exchange rate.
• Be early! Prepare for the unexpected!

Impressions:

• First time to see a beach’s water on 3 different colors! Nice!
  
• Just like in BKK, the police and their stations are everywhere so if something happens, I know where I can go. They even stay up until very late 2-3 in the morning. I felt pretty safe!
• Filipino are relatively nice people. Most of them can speak English pretty well!
  We didn’t encounter any “cheating” though there were case where they accept the bargained price then up-sell or ask for more money after that. Anyway, since the amount is too small. It’s alright.

Recommended places & activities

• We pay 5,000 Peso for Parasailing (15′), Jet Ski! (30′) plus a free sailing trip to see the sunset (they said 30′ but the trip was actually very short only 5-10′ – partially because we were late), which is considered cheap (~130 SGD). But apparently, we could get even cheaper tickets if buying directly from the sellers (somewhere in the middle of White Beach) – ~1,300 for the Jet Ski alone.
  • Very much enjoy Jet Ski & Parasailing! Miss out the ATV though
  • Separate those activities into 2-3 days; 2 in a day at most. We enjoy it very much that way. Otherwise, it’s really overwhelming. We see some people almost vomit after taking Fly Fish and Parasailing after one another.
• Kolai is a local restaurant around 5′ walk from D’Mall – nice & cheap local food! (P200 to 400 for 2 persons’ meal)
• Quite like the mango milkshake @ Jonash’s Fruit Shake (Station 1) – long queue though. The beach there is nice too. I like how the restaurants there sits just a few meters above the beach. The scene is so beautiful!
• Enjoy eating fresh seafood @ D’Talipapa Market (20-25′ walk from D’Mall). We’ve gotta to buy seafood from the opposite market first before getting them cooked at the restaurant, who only charges their cooking fee. Needa bargain twice though the people there are nice!
• Puka Beach looks stunning with huge & high waves – arguably even more beautiful than White Beach. Only 150 Peso from D’Mall to the beach. Remember to bargain.

Pretty enjoyable trip!

Semarang & Yogja Trip

Impressions

The way to immigration checkpoints is too small – there are only 2 lines. The waiting time might be up to 1 hour after the flight.

Interesting to see normal people acting as police men, guiding the traffic & helping cars cross intersections. They do get tips from the drivers.

Hardly seen (lots of) cabs except near the airport.

Attractions

#Yogyakarta

• (Pantai) Timang Beach: best experience!
• miss out Goa jomblang – only open from 10-12pm?
  quite scary to get down to the cave (10-15m height)
• Kalisuci Cave Tubing?
  • Cave tour: dropped my phone here to a 8m deep water
  • Water drafting: 8m height jump down to water
• Mount Merapi: good tour via a jeep car (250 rp?)

#Semarang

• The Old town – around 20-25′ from the center
  A church, park & a few shop selling ancient stuff (e.g. money notes, coins and others). not much to do there.
• Sam Poo Kong: huge temple & look impressive from far. A mix between Chinese & Javanese structures.

My 3rd Trip to Bangkok

It’s much better to change money in Singapore (25.7 as of Aug 10; 24.7 in Changi as of Aug 12) than Thailand (24.91? as of Aug 12)

Stay @ BKK Hiptique – very decent & cheap hotel.

Muay Thai Fight

My first time watching a live Muay Thai’s women fight. Though it’s not a competitive fight, it’s quite fun to watch. What I like most is how the girls warm up before the match. I don’t know if that’s serious or for showing. I personally find it kinda interesting & sorta weird warm-up for a fight 😀 #Mother’sDay #Queen’sBD

Safari World

It’s 100% better than I expected of a “zoo” or “safari”. It’s totally worth spending the whole day here. There are 7 shows in total, all of which occurs twice a day (one in the morning; the other in the afternoon) except the Elephant show. Dolphin is arguably the best, attracting most people. I love the 2 MCs most, who are funny & able to speak a few languages. Quite surprised to see they play Vietnamese & Indian songs before the show. There are lots of Indian tourists btw 😉

I enjoy the Spy War & Cowboy Stunt show too, which is like watching a Hollywood action movie live. Fire; gun, fighting – everything is very well prepared. Such a very pleasant experience!!

The place is walkable – not too huge like Singapore Zoo yet have enough interesting things to watch & see. All the shows give us almost no rest in the afternoon.

It’s a great experience overall. No wonder they’re attracting so many tourists.

The only thing we missed out was the rooftop bar, which will be my #1 priority in the next trip.

My First Trip to Taiwan

Impressions:

• There are lots of construction buildings in the airport. The scene looks like or even worse than in HCM (& Bangkok). It’s still way behind world class airports like Changi.
• Complicated & massive highways (bridges) from the airport (which is apparently not in Taipei)
• 80-95% of major buildings are in brown & dark grey color. It makes the city look ancient, blues & sad especially in cloudy days… (more or less same feeling when I first came to Malaysia (KL?) from Singapore). Still wondering why they chose those colors? Was it on purpose? 😉
• Bikes are still used quite a lot in the city – more than BJ & esp SH (but still only around 10% of the vehicles). The roads in Tapei are not as huge as in Singapore, in which one way usually has 3-4 lanes. This makes the city more “close” (not too huge in distance) to me though, reminding me of Vietnam.
  • Saigon can learn from this
• Not much jam – so much better than mainland China
• We had a very hard time finding basket bins even in (night) markets. I need to hold my trash on my hands for very long until I found one unless I decided to throw it somewhere :O
  • There are people who look for & clean trashes on streets though
• People are very polite & patient. We hardly hear any horn sounds. In fact, even a car was so close to me, its driver didn’t horn me at all. He was waiting (for a moment only though) until I realized and moved away. Those kinds of behaviors are hardly found in Singapore. Highly educated & polite people! That’s what the government can (and should/must) do (for its citizen through laws/penalties and education)!!

There are quite many places/attractions to chill & take pictures – Hue either doesn’t seem to have many places like this or under-marketed – no ones know about it…

Shifen Sky Lantern with wishes written on it. People are playing on a working train railway. I’m wondering if there is any accident happened before, which could be so gross! 🙁

Waterbottle place with song of the sea (like in front of Singapore MBS) + colorful lighting (pictures) and crystal balls for people to stay inside > very good idea 💡

Yehliu GeoPark (sedimentary rocks) – beautiful scenery & story!

Japanese mall & Taipei 101: Pretty Girls helps & guides shoppers & pedestrians in front of the lift (they’re called Elevator operator). This is the first time I’ve seen something like this, which is quite interesting. I wonder if such service is necessary though! haha.

• Cheap food. Much cheaper than BJ & SH
  • Cheap steamboat. Only $20 for a big whole set (Appetizer to drink & dessert) steamboat. @ Where?
  • Smelly Tofu: smell Ok & good to eat with chilli & veggies after cooking though!
• Should buy a SIM at the airport! Only $300 – unlimited internet for 5 days. The Internet here is pretty good – up time 99%; 4G even in mountain.

Girls 😉

• Tall. Prettiness: Somewhat in between Singapore (modern) & Chinese mainland (average girls looks que mua). They have big thighs though 😯 😈
• People – both guys & guys like to wear ripped jeans 

House via AirBnB?: near/inside the town. Some interesting decorations:

• Fake book covers (box)
• Color Lighting box > look cool!!

Luang Prabang & Seam Reap Trip

• First time riding a horse – not as easy as it seems though 😀
• First time watching a circus
• Experience the Alms Giving Ceremony at sunrise around 5-5.30am
• Feel Great climbing to the top of Angkor Wat temple
• Enjoy nightlife experience, especially the street bars & night markets, in Siem Reap

Luang Prabang

• I can see some Vietnamese influence on Laos
  • They have certain Vietnamese dishes for breakfast like Chao (Porridge), Pho and Bun (Vietnamese noodles).
  • Many of them recognize & know how to speak Vietnamese
• It’s interesting & somewhat annoying (weird!!) at the same time to see the Communist Flag (hammer & sickle) everywhere – side by side with their national flag. They’re certainly more communist than his neighbor now. haha 😀
• Foods are relatively expensive for many reasons; one being since it’s not developed yet, services are rare, and therefore, expensive but not that good either (monopoly). Anyway, our Vietnamese Dong has little purchasing power here :O
• The best place I visited is definitely the Kuang Si Falls which is 30km away from the town.

Siem Reap

• The tour guide blames the Thai for the destruction of some major sites on the Angkor Wat temples (3 among 8/9 towers are ruined?)

Lessons:

1. Always try to Buy simcard at the airport whenever possible. They’re more hands-on & speak English better, and so, can surely offer more help.
2. Always ask for better prices, negotiate, bargain or whatever you wanna call it 😉
   It’s not about money – as it’s quite little & I don’t mind giving them good tips, but rather about your willingness to negotiate. Negotiate! everything in life 😉

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