Tokyo Business Trip March 2019

Here’s my first entry for Marvelous March - Dang, I missed to write an entry for "Fabulous Feburary"....  Anyway, I just returned from a work trip to Tokyo where I visited Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha’s HQ for some briefings along with one of my bosses. 

Looking at The Tarmac While Waiting - RX100 Mk3

Jakarta Chinese New Year Trip – Day 3

Day 3 was New Year’s Eve.  It was a very relaxed day with plenty of time for us to explore and try out new and interesting places during the day. 

My wife suggested that we should try going to Bakmi Orpa in Jalan Malaka II near Kota Tua.  Bakmi Orpa is very well known as the most expensive noodle house around although most people who’ve been there agree that their signature noodle dish is very good.  So we were very curious to try this “bakmi Horang Kaya” - make sure you pronounce the "H" with a heavy grunt 😁😁.  My sister went along with us.

After following the directions on Google Maps, we finally arrived at Bakmi Orpa.  My sister went on a side dish ordering frenzy and ordered Pangsit Goreng, Baso Goreng & Pangsit Kuah.  We also ordered 5 bowls of noodles. 

Bakmi Orpa Shop Sign - A7RMk2 + Batis 2/25

Jakarta Chinese New Year Trip - Day 1

As per usual practice in the last couple of years, we headed to Jakarta to celebrate Chinese New Year.  This time it was a 5 day trip.  We had the luxury of a longer trip courtesy of the weekend.  Flying by Garuda, we departed from Changi Airport's Terminal 3.  And this time, I had the opportunity to visit the Butterfly Garden with Lincoln prior to boarding the plane.  

Level 2 View of T3 Butterfly Garden @ Changi - A7RMk2 + Batis 2/25

Mexican Dinner @ Super Loco Robertson Quay

Last month my wife and I dropped by Super Loco Robertson Quay to satisfy our Mexican food cravings.  It is rather unfortunate that Coyote Tex-Mex at Phoenix Park has been closed for quite some time and replaced with some generic steak house.  So when we knew about Super Loco, we thought that we should give it a try.  

Super Loco is located in swanky Robertson Quay's The Quayside, seated right next to the river for that romantic evening dinner, or a cool relaxing brunch/lunch.  

Inside Super Loco - Sony RX100 Mk3

A Mundane May

So far May has been very boring except for some excitements back in my hometown - some idiot crazy terrorists bombings.... that was very sad really....

On the work front, things are picking up although those are quite easy stuffs, nothing like what I used to have back in my old department.  I've been struggling to keep myself awake in office as I'm just too bored at the stuffs I do.  Now, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things to do.  Over the span of 4 months that I've been in this position, I have crossed out 50 items out of 57 in my tasks list (that is still growing).  But the difficulty level is just not challenging.

At home, I finally got a chance to visit an ice cream cafe I've been longing to try for quite some time: Creamier @ Tiong Bahru.  To be more precise it's located at 78 Yong Siak Street, near Cheng's 27 and Forty Hands.  It's amazing how they've been there for so long and it took me only last Thursday to visit.  I sure am a late comer.

Hello there Creamier!

Chinese New Year 2018

Another year, another Chinese New Year in Jakarta.  Things are a bit different this time....  公公's absence was deeply felt.

We left on the morning of the new year's eve.

Waiting to board - A7RMk2 + Batis 2/25

The Last Bangkok Biz Trip 2017 - ลาก่อนกรุงเทพฯ

Two days after I returned home from the Tokyo biz trip I went off to Bangkok for a final Country Super User Training.  This time there were 50 users from 17 countries to train.  Same venue at Pullman G in Silom.  I was really excited because after this there will be no more training, no more creating exercises, no more data preparation (especially of such a large scale).  October was crazy... I spent 16 days abroad just for work.. This time I went light with just the RX100 Mk3.

The customary departing plane shot

Another HCM Biz Trip - June 2017

2 weeks in Ho Chi Minh...  For training..  I left Singapore with a heavy heart as it was my son's school holiday and I had to go away for work instead of spending some time with him.

Departed on a Sunday late afternoon - which means I had to miss karate class again...  

Ready to go!  Déjà vu???

Ho Chi Minh Biz Trip - May 2017

Soo.... There's a first time for everything, such as a trip to Ho Chi Minh, VietNam.  Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought of going to Ho Chi Minh, but since work dictated me to do so, off I went.  For this trip I brought my trusty RX100 Mark III again as I wanted to travel light.

Ready to go after a brief shower

Lindsay's 4th Birthday

Just a few weeks back we celebrated Lindsay's 4th birthday.  My wife had arranged for a celebration in her school earlier which I did not attend.  So I only celebrated with her at home in the evening.

It was a small and intimate celebration for Lindsay.  My little girl is a year older now, naughtier for sure....  but lovely as always.

Happy birthday my little lovely angel...

~ Photos taken with Sony RX100 Mk 3~

Seoul Biz Trip Feb 2017 - 안녕하세요

Last week I just came back from a business trip to Seoul.  It was the first time in my life I had ever been to South Korea as I had never thought of or imagined travelling here. It was definitely an eye opening trip for me.

The Singapore to Seoul flight was at 2:45 a.m. in the morning, I really hate night flights because I have trouble sleeping in aeroplanes, and true enough I could only manage 1 hour of sleep in that 6 hours flight.  I was in the same flight as my boss by the way, but we had different seating.

That's the plane to Seoul - RX100Mk3

Lincoln's K2 Graduation Concert

Last Friday was Lincoln's graduation concert.  It was a combined graduation event involving more than 300 children from 29 centres which took place at The Theatre @ Mediacorp.  It was just 1 week after his primary 1 orientation.

The event started with a presentation of certificates to the graduating classes.

Class photo at certificate presentation

Fujifilm X-T2: MINE!!!

I believe I should be one of the first in Singapore to get X-T2.  I pre-ordered the camera and got it on the first day it became available in Singapore - 8 September.

X-T2 feels very much like X-T1, but the price difference is very steep.  I purchased my X-T1 and approximately $2.2K for a kit set that comes with the XF 18-55mm F2.8-4.0R, while the X-T2 body only costs $2599.  But the difference in price could somewhat be justified; the new auto-focus system is plain amazing, resolution also increased by 50% (from 16MP to 24MP), 4K video, 1/8000 mechanical shutter speed, double SD card slots and an addition of a joystick to select focus points have been added (similiar to Nikon DSLRs) which is an extremely welcome improvement to ergonomics.  The screen has an additional angle for tilting this time around although I haven't found much use to it just yet.  

AF Joystick under the "Q" button - taken by Sony RX100Mk3

The Wifey Got Fish!

In my previous post I mentioned that my wife decided to get an aquarium at home.  The first tank we got was immediately filled up as she got a pregnant molly that soon gave birth to lots of baby fish.  So I decided to get a second tank to separate the males from the females else the tanks will get overcrowded.  Her hobby, but I'm the one footing the bill.....  Both tanks and the accessories really cost quite a fair bit....

Here's a photo of the main tank which is a 30 litre tank clear glass tank.

The Wifey's Birthday Dinner at Pollen

Last month was my lovely wife's birthday, I arranged a surprise dinner for her at Pollen in Gardens by The Bay.  The restaurant specializes in modern European cuisine.

Inside Pollen - we were quite early

Linc's 6th Birthday 2016

Today is Lincoln's birthday.  I took half day off in the afternoon to pick up his birthday cake and prepare for a celebration at his school with his classmates.  The boy turned 6 today.  It's quite hard to see how he grows up so fast, I feel like I hadn't spent enough time with him.

Anyway.....  My wife ordered a separate cake for his birthday celebration at school.  It's a Doraemon themed cake which looks really cute.

Lincoln's Cake for Celebration at School

A Different Kind of DIY - Orient Stingray EM7J001B

Still on DIY, I have a handsome watch by Orient - Stingray EM7J001B.  Doesn't cost a bomb but way cool and stylish.  The problem is, the calf leather strap cannot stand the humidity and have really degraded over time.

I decided to use the Hirsch strap I got for my Seiko Baby Tuna SRP655K1.  The original Seiko rubber strap has a lug size of 22 mm but the actual width after the spring bar slot is actually 24 mm.  While the strap looks good, it does come across a bit small for a 50 mm watch.  I thought it will make a good replacement to my EM7J001B.  The very funny fact is that..... the strap's price is $40 more expensive than the watch itself - it's a leather & rubber hybrid from Hirsch's performance straps series.

The Watch with the New Strap

Acer Aspire One D255 Major Upgrade

So after I upgraded my VAIO's HDD to an SSD,  I've been very impressed with the performance - zippy performance all over and extremely fast start-ups.

I have a 6 year old Acer Aspire One Netbook lying around which I've lent my sister but then she abandoned it.  Can't blame her because it is so slow and quite painful to use.  So I decided to have a go at upgrading this netbook too in the hopes of making it still usable.

The first task is to upgrade the OS from Windows 7 Starter to Windows 10.  The start up was slightly faster.  The good thing about Windows 10 is that it somehow improves performance of devices with inferior hardware but only up to a certain degree.

After OS upgrade, I got the SSD first - a Samsung Evo 850 which comes with a migration software, unfortunately I had to get the SATA adapter myself.  Since I couldn't get that frigging adapter in my local IT shop I had to wait 4 days to buy it online from Qoo 10.

Brand New 250GB SSD to Replace The Old HDD

LG G5 - Finally

Okay, so my handphone change could not wait any longer.  My old G3 just stopped detecting my memory card altogether and some of my apps that are in the memory card became inaccessible.  While I could transfer the app to internal storage, it also means that I would run out of space in the phone.  Taking photos also mean that they will be stored in the internal storage.

So I checked my telco provider's website for the contract rate.  I was really lucky that the G5 had a $200 off promotion.  I had also passed the minimum re-contract period which means that they will waive the $200 (yes $200, not $100 which I previously thought!!) admin fee if I re-contract now.  My G3 itself is still worth $150 if I trade it in.  So not wanting to delay any longer (while the promotion is still on) I decided to just go for a G5.  All-in-all I got it at a price of $229, which is not bad for a flagship.  I had considered the Samsung S7 but the price difference was a good $320.  So I thought the G5 is a better buy, where dollars and cents are concerned.

The G5 is really a sleek phone.  While it has a metal feel, it's not so heavy as compared to let's say the Sony Z5 Premium.  The G5 feels more comfortable in hand.  It's thinner than my G3 because the back is flat and not curved.  But what I really like is the fact that it is light despite some of the metal parts in the body.  The loudspeaker placement is also better this time, which is at the bottom of the phone instead of the back which makes the ringtone and any other notifications more audible when placed inside the pocket.

Front Profile

Thai Biz Trip 2016

It's time for a business trip again to Thailand.  The first for the year in fact.. I should expect at least 1 more trip in June when the system they will use go live.  And it will be for a much longer duration...  This time I had to visit both Bangkok and Hatyai.  The trip took 5 days and 5 nights altogether.

So the trip starts from Changi as usual, flying with Thai Airways, smooth as silk.  Thai Airways is always one of my favourite airlines to fly with whenever I go to any destination in Thailand.  I'd go on Singapore Airlines too if their fares were cheaper due to some promotions.  

I didn't bring any cameras, just using handphone camera which this time is a Sony Z5 Premium.

The plane ready to go on the tarmac