Budget airline and air tickets

Started to plan my June overseas trip a few weeks ago. Going to Taipei and Kaohisung for the food, shopping and books, free & easy arrangement. First thing first is to confirm air tickets. We dun quite enjoy package tour and din really consider the option at all.

Since my daughter is older now, I went for the budget airline as my first choice and zoom into Jetstar's pricing. Not too bad, S$1,300+ for three persons (including all taxes) and the timings for both inbound and outbound were great as well. However, I did not reserve any bookings as I could not confirm a date yet. A week later, a similar search returned with a new pricing, as expected but S$1,900+ for three persons. I dun think it is a good idea to pay S$600 more for nothing extra in return.

Adjusted my search to also include all usual airlines. Initial results showed that I would be paying about the same price as Jetstar. Tough still high but at least I could enjoy more service for the extra S$500 to S$600. Again, I din make any reservation. Continue to monitor the prices over 1 to 2 weeks and found a Maybank promotion traveling by Cathay Pacific. S$1,500+ for three persons via Hong Kong. The timings options were pretty good too. Decided to check Jetstar again and it is still quoting me at S$1,900+. Finally made the reservation 3 days ago and got my eTickets today.

Budget Airline does not necessary mean cheaper traveling. If it is not offering the best possible value air ticket, then why called itself a budget airline. Something seems to be pretty wrong in its business operation. In fact, the price is slight more expensive than SQ pricing.

Ha...ha...ha... it sounds like a joke to me. Emm....I am sure it is a joke but not for me - for Jetstar.

Air tickets settled, next will be the planning of the accommodation and programme for the entire 9 days, 8 nights trip. The fun part of going for a free & easy traveling is that we get to decide what we want to do and enjoy, day and night :-)

Tyre Pancit

We decided to stop the car and to check the source of the funny sound. It seemed coming from the back of the car. Actually, we hit over an object earlier and it is better to check if the tyre is still fine. We alighted, checked and discovered a flatted tyre in front near to the driver seat. :-( It's showtime.

We moved the car to the road side, took out the brand new tool set and a much smaller new spare tyre. We tried to understand how to use the jack to lift the car up. Luckily, Dennis was around to "lend" his weigh to loosen the 4 very tight screws. We were also luckily enough that it was not raining cats and dogs at the moment. However, it was a sweaty experience especially for Dennis. We had chicken rice for lunch earlier and I am sure much of it has been converted into energy. What we needed then was cold drinks too.

Slowly, Zhen Yi drove the car to another nearby petrol station to change it. The spare tyre is not meant to be used as running tyre but to facilitate the driver to a workshop to get it changed. Once we reached the workshop, it was time for Zhen Yi to sweat though we were all under a roof - how much is the new tyre going to cost me ?

So, what did we learn from this tyre pancit experience ?

(1) Spare tyre and the tool kit are important part of the car. Without them, we have no way to temp fix it. Of course, we could call for help but that is going to cost more. Take good care of the spare tyre and make sure that the tool kit is in good working condition.

(2) Teamwork is everything. It could be very stressful to deal with it alone especially if it is dark at night and raining heavily.

(3) When we have nothing much to do while waiting for the new tyre, we could play mahjong through bluetooth using the iPhone together. However, the system is not very stable and slow. We have to re-connect a few times as we played.

(4) Buy 4D to see if the lucky star could strike again but positively this time round.

A witness had taken a photo for your judgement, guess who is the culprit(s) ?

Ha...ha...ha...

My daughter's drawing (2)

My daughter has been enjoying much in drawing and then colouring it. I also enjoy going through the drawing with her, listening to the story of the drawing and peep at her as she draws, her small tongue will slip out at times as she focuses on creating another master piece.

I can see improvements in her drawing and I am happy for her. One thing that I am always on lookout is the colorfulness of it. I think it may say something that I may have not realized it. So far, the colour used is bright, active and happy.

In our next overseas holiday, I will try to do a nice chop for her so that she can stamp it on her drawings just like a Master. Ha...ha...ha... :-)

Random thought

Have u ever wonder how many people are in the sky at any moment ? Of course human bring is not able to fly but what i meant is how many people are traveling in airplanes at any moment ?

My assumptions as follow:
- Assuming there is only one airways per country and there are 100 countries with airways;
- Assuming each plane can take 200 passengers and crews on average;
- Assuming that there is at least two planes in the sky from each airways at any moment;

My estimation is 40,000 people and 200 planes in the sky at any moment of a day. So what does it mean ?

The sky is pretty crowded with 200 objects moving + satellites + birds. It means that you are not along when u are in a plane. It is likely that another 39,999 people who are doing the same thing as you at any moment :-) Lastly, it means that we are polluting the air at any one moment :-(

Junior Senior Citizen

Life seems to be pretty the same as it was yesterday. Sleep, work, eat, watch, read, travel, talk etc. But I have actually quietly moved into the early part of my second half of life just like a soccer match. However, I dun really recall there was a break in-between ?

So what's next ?
First thing first, I have to increase font size to 16 and reading document at 120 to 150% view on a computer. Second, I am not sure if i will still have the same number of years that I had early. Even if it is the same, I can only expect it to be productive around 60%. Spare parts are loosening and wearing out, no choice.

So what's up ?
Looking ahead, to enjoy what I am doing and to do enjoyable stuffs especially in the next couple of golden years. To savor every second of moment. No more chance after that. Just do it and do it now ;-)

So what's the difference ?
The first part of life is more about receiving and charging up. The second part of life would be more about giving and cooling down gradually. Not just the money but also about care, time, being patient, advise, love etc.

How about having extra time just like in a soccer match ? Well...good idea :-) provided I still have the energy and fit enough to enjoy it else it would be cursing than blessing. Ha...ha...ha...

Technically speaking I am not yet a senior citizen but can only be classified as a junior senior citizen.

Cashless but useless

Went to make payment today for my daughter's ballet dancing, 12 lessons for $90 in one of the community centres. The staff shared that I can pay by Nets while she was registering the details into the system.

When I passed her my ATM card, she told me that there might be a problem but no harm to give a try. Well, just like what she said, I could not pay by Nets. She advised me to top up my PAssion card with the machine just outside the office and i could enjoy additional 2% of discount by doing so. I am not aware of the extra discount and since i could not pay by Nets, it is better to top it up than walking all the way out to draw cash.

I followed the instructions and placed my PAssion card on the top machine, the system detected and canceled the transaction without any reason. I tried it again and again and again but not successful. The staff came out to help me and she also faced the same problem. She smiled at me and not sure what went wrong. No choice, I walked out to the nearest ATM machine to pay for the course.

We are pretty advance in archiving a cashless society but if the machines fail without checking or making sure that it is working properly, we may end up in a useful situation, less to say about customer service.

Ha...ha...ha...

Kids Run 2010

Signed up the Cold Storage Kids Run 2010 for my daughter. :-)

The event is on 23 May 2010 and she will be running on the F1 track. This is the first time she is participating in an official running. For the 4 to 5 years category, the running distance is 800m. I will be joining her in the run at 7.30am. Pretty short but a good beginning for her :-)

I hope that she will find the run interesting and enjoyable. Most importantly is for her to experience running together with other kids leisurely and have fun. If you are also keen to sign up for your kid, please visit the website. @ S$28 per kid

Hope that it will be a fine weather on 23 May 2010 morning.

Journey to the West

To most of the Chinese, the book "Journey to the West" (西游记) is a well known story. It is a commonly read classical title appealing to both the young and the old. You can easily find it as story book in bookstores (including the comics) , as part of the textbooks in school and seen on movies.

The storyline is about how a group of four main characters coming together and going to the "west" to obtain the Sutra. Out of the four characters, the Monkey King is the limelight. It has the superpower to protect the group especially the Master Monk as well as fighting and winning over many devils in the journey.

Though I am one of the many who has read about the story since young, the recent read of a related book interested me very much as well. It is not a story book but a recount of the life of the actual Master Monk, Xuanzang (玄奘), in his pursue of obtaining the Sutra from the “west”. The “west” refers to the old India, located at the west of China kingdom.

The author is Mr Qian Wenzhong (钱文忠), a young History Professor from the Fudan University, China. Based on historical records and other researches, the author recounts the life, happenings and contributions of Xuanzang during the early years of the Tang Dynasty about 1,300 years ago. The author has written the subject pretty well in terms of its coverage, the flow of the presentation and able to make it a very engaging.

Xuanzang was very determined to go to the old India to obtain the Sutra and he actually risking his life by sneaking out of the country (ie the Tang’s kingdom) to the west. Luckily he met many good people whom were supportive of his endeavor and touched by his courage. Prior to his departure, he prepared for it for a few years by learning the Sanskrit language (梵文) and training himself up physically. In the journey, Xuanzang also experienced many death and life happenings such as crossing the Gobi Desert alone with no water for 4 to 5 days. He nearly dies. Xuanzang traveled 10,000 miles and took him 17 years to fulfill his dream. The Tang Dynasty’s emperor welcomed him warmly when he finally returned to China and encouraged Xuanzang to write it down as reference.

Though Xuanzang is not the first and the only person to visit the old India, he had made a few great contributions:

（1）To promote the teaching of Buddhism by bringing back many Sutra from the old India and translating these works into Chinese;
（2） An excellent scholar willing to share his knowledge with his fellow students;
（3） His own account of the journey had facilitated the record of the old India’s history and given researchers a good rich information of the old India then and
（4）Established and structured the work of translation

I have enjoyed reading it very much and finished the two books in less than three weeks, at times till 1am.