22 Sept 2015
Frankly I'm tempted to stay with HSBC Visa Infinite. Wait... Let me check on the expiry of points.
Ok so the points last 3 years, expiring at the commencement of the 4th year.
The reasons I'm tempted is because firstly, it only costs me S$30,000 in deposit to enjoy most of the benefits, plus $5k spend per quarter for the airport limo, in contrast to $200k for Citigold plus S$3k spend per quarter in foreign currencies. Secondly, it's unlimited one-way airport transfers, meaning it's available for abuse. $5k spend in three months really isn't hard when I can shop for both her and myself and sometimes my brother. Thirdly, it's got better offers at Cathay Pacific. Fourth, it's got complimentary Meet and Greet, luggage clearance and expedited immigration service at selected airports with that minimum spend. Fifth, the Priority Pass that came with it expires in 4 years instead of one year that Citibank gives me.
However, after reading part of the Terms and Conditions while checking the point expiry just now, I'm totally turned off.
First, the limo can only take two guests and myself. Second, there's a small surcharge if I need it between 12am-6am. Well, sometimes I do come back or go off during that period.
Other than these reasons found in the T&C, there is the fact that the points expire in three years. That's a major turn-off since the unending validity of the points with the Prestige card was what drew me to it. Another reason is that the complimentary Meet and Greet and stuff are off little use to me even if it's available at all airports.
As of this moment, I believe I shall stick to the original plan to cancel the HSBC Visa Infinite once the miles are received.
I have been tempted. This is undeniable. Google results tell me this is normal. But I will stick with her. Despite all her flaws, she has a combination of good points that I love that I don't believe I will find in the same configuration in anyone else.
One thing I've figured out is that a relationship is as permanent as the two make it - a possible breakup is only a breakup if neither wants to patch up.
24 Sept 2015
So I was sold.
I went to Spa Rael and I was sold. The therapist there was just better than the one at SkinLab.
This was just a free facial courtesy of Citigold as one of my birthday perks, but it showed me what it can be like, and how bad some of the therapists were at SkinLab.
I'm not saying SkinLab is bad, because there has been one so far who gave me a similar massage for the whatever ampoule they were using; what I am saying is that they provide an inconsistent level of service that can be as bad as... no massage - one simply covered my face with it and left it at that.
Since the place was my first, I thought that was normal. Clearly, I was wrong.
Fortunately, I can request specific therapists so it's not a major issue, but I'm going to move to Spa Rael once my package at SkinLab is finished.
The level of service was one reason, and the other reason was that they gave me more perks - the final package included one extra facial session and four sessions of ANYTHING in the catalogue. I was curious about whether the packages were fixed, so I gambled a little and asked for an extra session (I was actually thinking about asking for a few extra sessions but somehow what came out of my mouth was different). The result was that she said that the manager was in that day so she went out to consult him/her, before returning to tell me she could add an extra facial session (I was thinking about the session of ANYTHING though).
But hey, it's a new lesson for me. Actually, two lessons so far. First, the packages are negotiable. Second, saying that you already have a package at another place gives you additional negotiating power.
So I wonder. I wonder if I should finish my package at SkinLab first, or alternate between them, or go for Spa Rael first.
Probably alternate between them.
25 Sept 2015
Another reason I like Spa Rael that I've only just recalled is that the therapist cleared my nose pimple without me feeling anything other than a slight vibration as if she poked it lightly. At SkinLab, the last time I went with a pimple I was told it had to "mature" before she can do anything about it.
So the gears have arrived in the country making the Halfbike II that I backed earlier on at Kickstarter. The delivery schedule is coming soon! Can't wait!
The haze is improving. It was so bad yesterday my sinus felt sore and I had to wear the N95 all day except in the hospital where I trust the air is filtered since the windows are closed.
It's not just about the dust particles but also the gases produced by the Indonesian fires. Normally, when trees burn, we only consider the smoke and dust, but the fact is that there are a number of gases produced in small quantities that are practically negligible if we're talking about just a small area getting burnt.
However, with the huge swathes of land on fire in Indonesia, and with the winds blowing everything in our direction, those gases are no longer in safe quantities for the weakest of the population.
Was checking out my subscriptions on Youtube when I noticed TokyoGastronomy again. It has been a while since their last video so I thought I'd just look around to see if there's any discussion going on there.
No comment at all, but in the process I looked through their old videos again and found one that was on strawberries.
Since my gf is studying culinary management and loves desserts, I thought it would be of interest to her.
It was like an undergrad looking at post-doctorate work. All the stuff in class she's been telling me about, they were nothing compared to that single strawberry that took over half the day to make.
Dat strawberry. Seriously.
So the health screening clinic at NUH is considered a private clinic, so any referrals to a specialist will get no subsidy. The only way to get that is to go bring their referral letter to a polyclinic and get another referral from the polyclinic.
Unfortunately, polyclinics don't provide comprehensive health screenings so if this is the same with all public hospitals, I'll just suck it up and go to NUH.
That is, unless Raffles provides a roughly similar deal in terms of price vs number of tests. I'll have to do a excel sheet later.
Saturday 26 September 2015
Monday 21 September 2015
Rant 1217 / More Posts Likely Due To More Alone Time In These Few Months.
20 Sept 2015
Back from Penang yesterday.
It was quite enlightening, this trip. What my uncle there told me was a more realistic version of what my mother told me about my father.
For one, he tried to swim over to Hong Kong twice and the first time he was stopped by the PLA coast guards. Some of his friends were shot dead on the spot while others were injured. Everyone who was alive, including my father, was arrested and sent to jail.
After he was released, he tried again, this time successfully reaching Hong Kong where he was taken in temporarily by a fisherman before finding a job in a textile factory. The part after his arrival was told by my mother so let's take it with a pinch of salt.
The other inaccuracy was that my great-great-aunt who went to Penang went there because she had a son by a Singaporean man who refused to marry her. Because that was in my grandparents' era, she had to leave the country to escape the shame and humiliation. My great-great-grandmother, aka her mother, left China with her and they eventually settled down in Penang. Being well-educated, she became a teacher of English and tailoring (instead of a midwife like my mother told me). Her son was the uncle I have here in Singapore whom I had lost contact with and whose ex-wife attended my mother's funeral.
I wonder if he ever found his father.
During her time in Penang, she got a godfather whose son was the relative I had contacted and visited in Penang during this trip. In addition, her godfather, being the 7th child in the family with 10 other siblings, had a 6th brother who had five children during his lifetime. Unable to feed all of them, he gave a daughter to my great-great-aunt to adopt, and she was the nice one who took care of her during her final days and then settled all the matters involving her passing, even though she had at least one business to run in the US.
Her son didn't do anything.
One issue that cropped up in Penang was about the name of my grandfather. On the tablet of my great-great-grandmother were the names of her children and grandchildren. My great-great-aunt was not in the tablet for some reason, shame being my guess. Anyway there were two names under the "grandsons" and I would like to know which is my grandfather. For this, this uncle in Penang suggested that I find out the contact of my great-uncle, ie my grandfather's brother, whom I recall visiting many times in Hong Kong when I was small. His door had this board placed vertically, probably to prevent minor floods, and everyone always had to remind me to avoid tripping since I was less than five years old back then.
Back to the point, surely there must be a number that my mother had noted down somewhere in her notebooks. So I searched just now, and the name of one of his daughters was there in a notebook along with a few numbers.
On Monday, I'll contact her.
Maybe eventually I could contact the relatives I also have in Medan. Maybe she would know. I recall my father's Indonesian cousin visiting us several times, including once when I learnt that while in Singapore, we call tea with sugar and milk "teh" and tea with sugar "teh-o", in Indonesia "teh" refers to tea with sugar and "teh susu" is tea with milk and sugar.
No I don't have their numbers nor names.
Quarrelled again because I forgot to download a TV show for her mum last night and earlier this morning until she reminded me. It's not like it's urgent anyway and I forget everything, not just her things. If I have to set reminders for everything, life is going to be a pain. So she says I'm the wrong guy for her because I keep forgetting and don't want to set reminders for midnight. Fine, if dating her means becoming so rigid, then staying myself alone is better.
21 Sept 2015
Yes, I'm a slacker. If I don't slack, I become a very unpleasant person.
Did almost nothing today. Fitness seems to be up actually but forgot to train my arms. Too lazy now since it's 11pm. Will swim tomorrow. Have to train my arms because she wants me to try rock-climbing. Also because I'm travelling a lot more. Having decent arm strength is useful when you're not in your comfort zone.
Wonder how much Burberry trench coats cost in the UK. Want to get one but it's S$2.6k here in the duty-free shop at the airport. Friends told me it's cheaper in the UK, plus tourists probably get no tax.
Anyway, I'm not 100% sure but it seems that shorter coats can be paired with casual clothings like t-shirts and jeans while long ones are formal, as seen in The Firm starring Tom Cruise which I'd just finished watching earlier today.
I'm definitely getting a short one to wear when visiting places where waterproof jackets are needed but a thick jacket would look out of place.
Back from Penang yesterday.
It was quite enlightening, this trip. What my uncle there told me was a more realistic version of what my mother told me about my father.
For one, he tried to swim over to Hong Kong twice and the first time he was stopped by the PLA coast guards. Some of his friends were shot dead on the spot while others were injured. Everyone who was alive, including my father, was arrested and sent to jail.
After he was released, he tried again, this time successfully reaching Hong Kong where he was taken in temporarily by a fisherman before finding a job in a textile factory. The part after his arrival was told by my mother so let's take it with a pinch of salt.
The other inaccuracy was that my great-great-aunt who went to Penang went there because she had a son by a Singaporean man who refused to marry her. Because that was in my grandparents' era, she had to leave the country to escape the shame and humiliation. My great-great-grandmother, aka her mother, left China with her and they eventually settled down in Penang. Being well-educated, she became a teacher of English and tailoring (instead of a midwife like my mother told me). Her son was the uncle I have here in Singapore whom I had lost contact with and whose ex-wife attended my mother's funeral.
I wonder if he ever found his father.
During her time in Penang, she got a godfather whose son was the relative I had contacted and visited in Penang during this trip. In addition, her godfather, being the 7th child in the family with 10 other siblings, had a 6th brother who had five children during his lifetime. Unable to feed all of them, he gave a daughter to my great-great-aunt to adopt, and she was the nice one who took care of her during her final days and then settled all the matters involving her passing, even though she had at least one business to run in the US.
Her son didn't do anything.
One issue that cropped up in Penang was about the name of my grandfather. On the tablet of my great-great-grandmother were the names of her children and grandchildren. My great-great-aunt was not in the tablet for some reason, shame being my guess. Anyway there were two names under the "grandsons" and I would like to know which is my grandfather. For this, this uncle in Penang suggested that I find out the contact of my great-uncle, ie my grandfather's brother, whom I recall visiting many times in Hong Kong when I was small. His door had this board placed vertically, probably to prevent minor floods, and everyone always had to remind me to avoid tripping since I was less than five years old back then.
Back to the point, surely there must be a number that my mother had noted down somewhere in her notebooks. So I searched just now, and the name of one of his daughters was there in a notebook along with a few numbers.
On Monday, I'll contact her.
Maybe eventually I could contact the relatives I also have in Medan. Maybe she would know. I recall my father's Indonesian cousin visiting us several times, including once when I learnt that while in Singapore, we call tea with sugar and milk "teh" and tea with sugar "teh-o", in Indonesia "teh" refers to tea with sugar and "teh susu" is tea with milk and sugar.
No I don't have their numbers nor names.
Quarrelled again because I forgot to download a TV show for her mum last night and earlier this morning until she reminded me. It's not like it's urgent anyway and I forget everything, not just her things. If I have to set reminders for everything, life is going to be a pain. So she says I'm the wrong guy for her because I keep forgetting and don't want to set reminders for midnight. Fine, if dating her means becoming so rigid, then staying myself alone is better.
21 Sept 2015
Yes, I'm a slacker. If I don't slack, I become a very unpleasant person.
Did almost nothing today. Fitness seems to be up actually but forgot to train my arms. Too lazy now since it's 11pm. Will swim tomorrow. Have to train my arms because she wants me to try rock-climbing. Also because I'm travelling a lot more. Having decent arm strength is useful when you're not in your comfort zone.
Wonder how much Burberry trench coats cost in the UK. Want to get one but it's S$2.6k here in the duty-free shop at the airport. Friends told me it's cheaper in the UK, plus tourists probably get no tax.
Anyway, I'm not 100% sure but it seems that shorter coats can be paired with casual clothings like t-shirts and jeans while long ones are formal, as seen in The Firm starring Tom Cruise which I'd just finished watching earlier today.
I'm definitely getting a short one to wear when visiting places where waterproof jackets are needed but a thick jacket would look out of place.
Wednesday 16 September 2015
Rant 1216 / How Does Wine Affect The Cooking Of Risotto? Drunk Chefs Don't Make Good Risotto.
So a red bomb arrived in what I should consider as a rather inconvenient time.
Not the worst but there are better months for this in the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, I've accepted it and flights have been arranged.
Let me recount the number of trips I have taken and will take in the year 2015.
Jan - Seoul, Korea
Feb - Shanghai, China + Hong Kong (not in passport) + Niseko, Japan.
April - Taichung, Taiwan
May - Batam, Indonesia
July - Perth, Australia (not in passport)
Aug - Melbourne, Australia
Sep - Penang, Malaysia
Oct - Vancouver, Canada
Dec - London, UK + Paris, France + Bordeaux, France + San Sebastian, Spain + Barcelona, Spain + Nice, France + Cinque Terre, Italy + Florence, Italy + Sorrento, Italy + Rome + Venice, Italy + Salzburg, Austria + Prague, Czech + Berlin, Germany + Amsterdam, The Netherlands
10 trips in a year! Madness!
This record is going to be hard to beat for the rest of my life.
Oh, and I'm still about 5,000 miles short over at Marco Polo to upgrade a Premium Economy ticket to a Business ticket, so I'll have to go to Canada on Economy. Hence I've chosen British Airways because I've got this impression that this airline has better leg space and wider seats, though I may be wrong.
*Upon checking SeatGuru, I was indeed wrong - both Cathay Pacific and Air Canada have similar if not better seat pitches and widths on their 777s and 747s, both of which I'm taking on trips. On the bright side, I'm earning lots of miles on BA on both the trips in Oct and Dec, and mileage on Air Canada is impractical while CX has been charging some of the highest prices for most of the flights I've been searching for this year.
Finished the Melbourne trip and it has certainly been a fantastic trip for me and her. Better still, both her parents like me now.
Finally understood the point of mileage runs. My definition of them goes like this:
Say a business class flight from A to B costs $5000 or can be redeemed for 50,000 miles. This makes the miles to be valued at $0.10 per mile.
If you can earn your miles at a price that's lower than this, you're going to beat the price that they've set!
So say you have found a return flight that costs $800 and earns you 10,000 miles total. If all you do is fly there and back with no hotel stay in between, you're basically buying the miles at $0.08 per mile. That's means if you fly that flight 5 times, you're going to be buying that business class flight for $4000 by redeeming all the mileage earned through those empty trips, ie at a 20% discount, sans the value of your time.
Moreover, it will help you fulfil the conditions of either a renewal or even a promotion in your frequent flyer membership.
After two days of research, I've come up with nothing.
Mileage runs do not work for us Singaporeans, as far as I can tell. Maybe I haven't gone deep enough or thought out of the box long enough, but this is my conclusion at this point in time.
The first thing I did was to search for the fares of most of the available flights on BA and CX originating from Singapore. Nowhere was cheap.
Later, I thought of making use of the seriously cheap fares that originate from other cities. For example, a return trip from Barcelona to Singapore on BA would cost just over half the price of a return trip from Singapore to Barcelona on certain months. What if... I book two flights originating from Barcelona, then go to London on the second half of the first trip (since the flights all require a transfer in London) and then return to Singapore on the first half of the second trip?
First flight:
BCN-LHR
LHR-SIN
SIN-LHR
LHR-BCN
Second flight:
BCN-LHR
LHR-SIN
SIN-LHR
LHR-BCN
And I take only the flights in bold.
My calculations showed that this was slightly more expensive than a simple return trip from Singapore to London, by just about S$100-200. Moreover, later I realized that this won't work because if I skip the first leg of the trip, they'll cancel everything after that.
However, this could still work if such ridiculous fares are available in cities that budget airlines fly to from Singapore. I could fly there on budget and return on the first half of the trip booked on that full service airline, giving me all the miles at much lower prices.
So far, however, no such luck.
03 Sept 2015
Signed up for the HSBC Visa Infinite for the mileage. With the recent Asia Miles promo of 45k miles as the welcome gift, the average cost per mile is around S$0.01/mile. To give you an example of what this means, the longest flights (10k miles and beyond) offered by Cathay Pacific, which the Asia Miles are for, can be upgraded from Premium Economy to Business for 55k Asia Miles, or straight from Economy to Business for 100k Asia Miles, and we're talking about return flights here ie to and fro.
I won't discuss redeeming the miles through buying the seat entirely with Asia Miles because apparently, Cathay Pacific is notorious for the difficulty in this because the airline releases its inventory of award seats a year in advance. However, I'm staying here because the Marco Polo Club is known to treat its members very well.
Quarrelled yesterday. Maybe I should record what we argued about because with my terrible memory, I can never argue very well. One cannot debate if one has nothing to back up one's words.
This time it started because I shifted my foot when she woke up from sleeping on it, and she was unable to go back to sleep because of that.
Anyway I think she's just grouchy from PMS and a lack of sleep, although her period had just started yesterday.
So "Leicester" is pronounced as "Less-ster". It should be broken down into "Leice" and "ster" instead of "Lei", "ce" and "ster".
人之初，性本善
It does not actually mean that everyone is good. Rather, I feel that it means that everyone started out good but were shaped by their environments to become who they are today.
Hilariously gross review of MGS V.
16 Sept 2015
Quarrelled yesterday because I missed her request for her macaroni to be cooked first (I was making dinner) and she scolded me for taking her for granted before going to sleep just before the food was ready. We were both tired.
On Sunday, we quarrelled because we were both tired again. She scolded me in public for forgetting stuff and I refused to apologize and eventually walked off. Encountered her again while looking for a taxi stand and made up the just ten minutes later.
Flying off to Penang tomorrow. In every trip, there's something new to be experienced.
Not the worst but there are better months for this in the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, I've accepted it and flights have been arranged.
Let me recount the number of trips I have taken and will take in the year 2015.
Jan - Seoul, Korea
Feb - Shanghai, China + Hong Kong (not in passport) + Niseko, Japan.
April - Taichung, Taiwan
May - Batam, Indonesia
July - Perth, Australia (not in passport)
Aug - Melbourne, Australia
Sep - Penang, Malaysia
Oct - Vancouver, Canada
Dec - London, UK + Paris, France + Bordeaux, France + San Sebastian, Spain + Barcelona, Spain + Nice, France + Cinque Terre, Italy + Florence, Italy + Sorrento, Italy + Rome + Venice, Italy + Salzburg, Austria + Prague, Czech + Berlin, Germany + Amsterdam, The Netherlands
10 trips in a year! Madness!
This record is going to be hard to beat for the rest of my life.
Oh, and I'm still about 5,000 miles short over at Marco Polo to upgrade a Premium Economy ticket to a Business ticket, so I'll have to go to Canada on Economy. Hence I've chosen British Airways because I've got this impression that this airline has better leg space and wider seats, though I may be wrong.
*Upon checking SeatGuru, I was indeed wrong - both Cathay Pacific and Air Canada have similar if not better seat pitches and widths on their 777s and 747s, both of which I'm taking on trips. On the bright side, I'm earning lots of miles on BA on both the trips in Oct and Dec, and mileage on Air Canada is impractical while CX has been charging some of the highest prices for most of the flights I've been searching for this year.
Finished the Melbourne trip and it has certainly been a fantastic trip for me and her. Better still, both her parents like me now.
Finally understood the point of mileage runs. My definition of them goes like this:
Say a business class flight from A to B costs $5000 or can be redeemed for 50,000 miles. This makes the miles to be valued at $0.10 per mile.
If you can earn your miles at a price that's lower than this, you're going to beat the price that they've set!
So say you have found a return flight that costs $800 and earns you 10,000 miles total. If all you do is fly there and back with no hotel stay in between, you're basically buying the miles at $0.08 per mile. That's means if you fly that flight 5 times, you're going to be buying that business class flight for $4000 by redeeming all the mileage earned through those empty trips, ie at a 20% discount, sans the value of your time.
Moreover, it will help you fulfil the conditions of either a renewal or even a promotion in your frequent flyer membership.
After two days of research, I've come up with nothing.
Mileage runs do not work for us Singaporeans, as far as I can tell. Maybe I haven't gone deep enough or thought out of the box long enough, but this is my conclusion at this point in time.
The first thing I did was to search for the fares of most of the available flights on BA and CX originating from Singapore. Nowhere was cheap.
Later, I thought of making use of the seriously cheap fares that originate from other cities. For example, a return trip from Barcelona to Singapore on BA would cost just over half the price of a return trip from Singapore to Barcelona on certain months. What if... I book two flights originating from Barcelona, then go to London on the second half of the first trip (since the flights all require a transfer in London) and then return to Singapore on the first half of the second trip?
First flight:
BCN-LHR
LHR-SIN
SIN-LHR
LHR-BCN
Second flight:
BCN-LHR
LHR-SIN
SIN-LHR
LHR-BCN
And I take only the flights in bold.
My calculations showed that this was slightly more expensive than a simple return trip from Singapore to London, by just about S$100-200. Moreover, later I realized that this won't work because if I skip the first leg of the trip, they'll cancel everything after that.
However, this could still work if such ridiculous fares are available in cities that budget airlines fly to from Singapore. I could fly there on budget and return on the first half of the trip booked on that full service airline, giving me all the miles at much lower prices.
So far, however, no such luck.
03 Sept 2015
Signed up for the HSBC Visa Infinite for the mileage. With the recent Asia Miles promo of 45k miles as the welcome gift, the average cost per mile is around S$0.01/mile. To give you an example of what this means, the longest flights (10k miles and beyond) offered by Cathay Pacific, which the Asia Miles are for, can be upgraded from Premium Economy to Business for 55k Asia Miles, or straight from Economy to Business for 100k Asia Miles, and we're talking about return flights here ie to and fro.
I won't discuss redeeming the miles through buying the seat entirely with Asia Miles because apparently, Cathay Pacific is notorious for the difficulty in this because the airline releases its inventory of award seats a year in advance. However, I'm staying here because the Marco Polo Club is known to treat its members very well.
Quarrelled yesterday. Maybe I should record what we argued about because with my terrible memory, I can never argue very well. One cannot debate if one has nothing to back up one's words.
This time it started because I shifted my foot when she woke up from sleeping on it, and she was unable to go back to sleep because of that.
Anyway I think she's just grouchy from PMS and a lack of sleep, although her period had just started yesterday.
So "Leicester" is pronounced as "Less-ster". It should be broken down into "Leice" and "ster" instead of "Lei", "ce" and "ster".
人之初，性本善
It does not actually mean that everyone is good. Rather, I feel that it means that everyone started out good but were shaped by their environments to become who they are today.
Hilariously gross review of MGS V.
16 Sept 2015
Quarrelled yesterday because I missed her request for her macaroni to be cooked first (I was making dinner) and she scolded me for taking her for granted before going to sleep just before the food was ready. We were both tired.
On Sunday, we quarrelled because we were both tired again. She scolded me in public for forgetting stuff and I refused to apologize and eventually walked off. Encountered her again while looking for a taxi stand and made up the just ten minutes later.
Flying off to Penang tomorrow. In every trip, there's something new to be experienced.
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