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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Books Read - The Alchemist

Besides travelling, I love to read. Here's one inspiration book I read in Dec 2015.



The Alchemist (Coelho)

The Alchemist tells the story of a young shepherd named Santiago who is able to find a treasure beyond his wildest dreams. Along the way, he learns to listen to his heart and, more importantly, realizes that his dreams, or his Personal Legend, are not just his but part of the Soul of the Universe.

Santiago is a humble shepherd whose desires are few–he wants to be free to roam with his sheep, to have some wine in his wineskin and a book in his bag. Fate intervenes, however, in the form of the recurring dream of a great treasure hidden thousands of miles away at the base of the Egyptian Pyramids. When Santiago meets Melchizedek, a strange wise man who claims he is a king from a far-off land, he decides to seek his treasure. The next day, Santiago sells his sheep and embarks to Africa to pursue his dream.

Upon arriving in Africa, though, it becomes apparent that things will not be as easy as he thought. The first day Santiago is in Tangiers, he is robbed and left completely alone, unable to speak a single word of Arabic. At first Santiago contemplates giving up and turning around. He remembers the words of the wise man, though, and decides to carry on–getting a job at a local crystal shop. After working at the crystal shop for a year, learning much about life and about his Personal Legend, Santiago earns enough money to buy a new flock of sheep and return home. At the last minute, though, Santiago decides to risk it all and join a caravan to Egypt.

Once in the caravan, Santiago meets an Englishman who has come all the way to Africa to seek a renowned alchemist. As they travel through the desert, the Englishman tells Santiago about the secrets of alchemy. Santiago finds the Englishman's ideas to be very similar to Melchizedek's. They both speak of a Soul of the World to which we are all connected and of the necessity of following our heart's true desires or our Personal Legend. Santiago, however, prefers to learn these secrets by observing the world, while the Englishman prefers to learn from complex books. While they travel, they begin to hear rumors of a coming tribal war.

When they finally arrive at the Al-Fayoum oasis–the home of the titular Alchemist–Santiago meets a beautiful girl named Fatima with whom he immediately falls in love. He discovers that love, like the Personal Legend, comes directly from the Soul of the World. While walking in the desert, Santiago has a vision of an upcoming battle. He rushes back to warn the elders at the oasis and, when his vision is confirmed, they offer him a position as a counselor. Santiago considers staying at the oasis with Fatima, but the Alchemist finds Santiago and tells him that he will lead Santiago to his treasure.

Once again on the move, the Alchemist teaches Santiago to listen to his heart. Hearts can be treacherous, but the best way to keep them from fooling you is to listen to them intently. Almost to the pyramids, Santiago and the Alchemist are taken prisoner by a warring tribe. The Alchemist tells the tribesmen that Santiago is a powerful magician who can turn himself into the wind. The tribesmen are impressed and will spare the lives of the men if Santiago can do it. The only problem is that Santiago has no idea what he is doing. After three days of meditating, Santiago uses his knowledge of the Soul of the World to ask the elements to help him. First he asks the desert, then he asks the wind, then he asks the sun and, finally, he asks the Soul of the World. Immediately, the wind whips up, and Santiago disappears and reappears on the other side of the camp.

The Alchemist takes his leave of Santiago, who continues on to the Pyramids. Once there, Santiago is attacked by robbers. Asked what he is doing there, Santiago replies that he had a dream of a treasure buried at the base of the Pyramids. One of the robbers laughs at him, and says that he has had the exact same dream, except that in his the treasure was buried in Spain. Santiago realizes that the treasure was back in Spain the entire time.

The story then jumps forward in time and finds Santiago digging a hole at the base of the tree where he had had his first dream. Sure enough, he finds a trunk full of gold–enough for him and Fatima to live happily for a long time.

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

3 Day Vacation in Ipoh

Took a family holiday with the 2 boys to Ipoh.

Also to visit my 87 year old aunt and my cousin.
Decided to drive from Singapore all the way to Ipoh.

Ipoh was one of Malaysia's main cities due to an early 19th century tin mining boom. During the British colonial era, it was Malaya's second administrative centre after Kuala Lumpur. However, the city faced gradual decline after the tin mining industry collapse.

Today Ipoh is perhaps best known for its excellent restaurants, hawkers, and famous local dishes. the food there is good and cheap and therefore draw throngs of tourists from all parts of Malaysia to sample its good food.

We booked the Hotel Excelsior via booking.com
Found it to be a good hotel - good and courteous service, clean rooms and the location was great as it was close to good eating places, restaurants etc.

Hotel Excelsior is also within walking distance to Ipoh Parade, a major shopping centre in Ipoh.


Clean Room
Refreshing toilet
View from the room window - the limestone hills of Ipoh

The next morning was Sunday so we decided to go Foo Shan Restaurant, which is just 5 minutes from the hotel. This restaurant is very famous for its dim sum. 

Crowds and cars starting arriving as early as 7.30am. 

Cars and people arriving to eat dim sum

Getting our share of dim sum

Tables all occupied

Dim sum - self service
After dim sum, we took a walk and found this 'second hand' open air market. Vendors were selling used goods - you name it they have it. We bought a vintage camera for 55 ringgit.

Second-hand open air market

all kinds of used goods on sale
Next, we walked to the Old town of Ipoh which is west of the Kinta River.

We come upon more food and this infamous lane called Concubine Lane

concubine Lane - busy with buying and selling of food 

Food preparaion

Little stall selling Chinese herbal lotion

A trip to Ipoh is not complete without trying its famous chicken rice and bean sprouts. Surely not to be missed!

fat juicy bean sprouts in soya sauce
succulent chicken - best in the world
Happy eating!!

Friday, December 18, 2015

Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe Vacation - How I Plan the Travel Vacation

Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe Travel Vacation

Travel is fun but to plan a travel vacation needs much effort and research and should be as thorough as possible. It is also a very enjoyable experience and as eye-opening as the actual travel.

Planning a travel vacation to Japan for my wife and 2 adult children for about 10 to 12 days in March 2016. It is better to plan early once the dates and duration is confirmed. This way, there is a good chance of getting cheap air fares and good value accommodation.

Here is what I did and I hope it would be useful for those who wish to plan similar travel vacations.

Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe and surrounding areas are places we wish to visit. They are located in the Kansai region of Japan. The Kansai region comprises 10% of Japan's land area, with 24 million residents, 18% of Japan's population. It consists of eight prefectures; Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Shiga, Nara, Wakayama, Mie, and Tokushima. The major cities of Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Ohtsu, Nara, Wakayama, Tsu, and Tokushima are all located in the Kansai region.
The Kansai Region of Japan

Step 1 - Finding Cheap Airfares

As I am flying from Singapore, there are only 2 budget airlines that fly to Osaka. They are Scoot and Jetstar. Of course, the aim to to look for the cheapest vacation deals. Travel airfares for budget airlines fluctuate by the day and season. Here is a comparison of the travel airfares from the 2 airlines for 4 adults.

Jetstar airfares


Scoot airfares
This is a big difference in price for 4 adults between the two budget airlines to Osaka. Scoot gave a good price, beyond my expectations. For the return trip Scoot fares, note the jump from 11 Mar to 12 Mar 2016, a whopping increase of some S$500!

Step 2 - Find a Hotel with Good Reviews

Where to stay is a huge component of any trip. For me, if I need to find a hotel in a city, I like to stay in a location where there is good access to public transport, especially the Metro network. A hotel that is within 5 to 10 minutes walk from a metro station is great.

My next important criteria is there is plenty of food outlets nearby - it can be street food or restaurants, convenience stores etc. I enjoy the local food and it is part of the fun and adventure to sample the distinct food and smell of the city.

Another important criteria is to make sure that the hotel has good reviews. I usually go the TripAdvisor to check and other hotel booking sites like Agoda and Booking,com which provide very useful reviews of the major hotels.

For this travel vacation, I decided to stay in 2 locations - 4 nights in Osaka and 5 nights in Kyoto. Based on my research, there is more to see in Kyoto as it was the ancient capital of Japan.

A travel vacation to Japan is not complete if we missed out on staying in the traditional Japanese guestrooms. Hence, we decided that we should stay in a 'ryokan' since we are in Japan, just for the experience of a lifetime. A ryokan (旅館 ?) is a type of traditional Japanese inn that originated in the Edo period (1603–1868), when such inns served travelers along Japan's highways. They typically feature tatami-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata and talk with the owner.

Just as there are many different ryokan room prices, there are also many different types or styles of ryokans. No two ryokans are the same, and the quality of ryokan varies dramatically. On the low end of the scale is what we call a “standard ryokan” and at the upper end of the scale is our “luxurious ryokan.”

Osaka Hotels

I decided to go to Tripadviser to check on reviews of ryokans. I found that Carpe Diem to be the #1 BnBs or Inns in Osaka.

Here's some of the reviews:
"Great hosts, beautiful ryokan and quiet surroundings - we had an excellent stay. Our room was very spacious and breakfast each morning was a nice touch. It's a very relaxed ryokan and we felt at home. The location was great - close to restaurants and a supermarket. Only a 15 minute walk to the JR station. I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again in future." -Stayed October 2015, travelled with family
"For three nights Carpe Diem was our home away from home. Lovely place,. We didn't book the accomodation for the rest of our trip and we couldn't find a place to stay after our stay in Carpe Diem. They helped us find a place. The children loved the garden. Easy to Find. Good breakfast. Just wonderful!_ - Stayed July 2015
"We spent 5 days at Carpe diem and are very happy of our choice!
The location is great: 10 minute walk from train stations and Osaka Castle park. Convenience store within 500m. Quiet area (in a dead-end), which makes the place very peaceful and relaxing.
The garden is beautiful: We got there at night and did not see it until we opened the sliding doors of our room in the morning. What a great way of starting the day!
Misa and her son Alex were very helpful and friendly, making sure our stay was great. They even organised a kimono-photo-shoot for us in the garden.
If I go to Osaka again (and I really hope I will), I want to stay there again." - Stayed June 2015, travelled with family

The webiste of Carpe Diem is here and you can book directly with them. It is rather easy. Since there are 4 of us, we booked the Tea Room.

Superior Tea Room at Carpe Diem

Kyoto Hotels

After having chosen a ryokan for Osaka, the next part is to look for a ryokan in Kyoto where I will be staying for 5 nights.

Here is a good place to look for ryokans in Kyoto . The main website is The Japan Ryokan & Hotel Association Kansai. Here is gives information on how to use a ryokan. Also, if you like Japanese baths, there is useful information in this site.

After a lot of searches, I settled for Oyado Ishicho Tower. This ryokan has an 8/10 rating from Booking.com reviews.

Step 3: Buy Travel Insurance

Once I have booked my flights and accommodation, I normally proceed to buy travel insurance straight away to ensure I secure the protection for the trip. Travel insurance is not expensive and these day, you never know what can go wrong - flight cancellations due to volcanic ash or haze, sickness that may cause you unable to travel, loss or delayed baggage, accidents etc. Hence it is better to be protected by travel insurance against such loss.

I bought travel insurance from NTUC Income which I think gives the best value for money. Scoot also offered travel insurance for $39 per person. NTUC Income's rate was only about $38.

Step 4: Places to Visit

Here I took my time to research in great detail. I normally check travel blogs what others have done and decide. I also check the recommendations from Tripadviser and other travel sites.

For travel to Japan, one of the most useful sites is japan-guide.com where it gives up to date comprehensive suggestions and tips regarding travel to Japan. This is really an authority site for ideas on travel to Japan. You need not look further.

Useful links:

a) In this site, you can choose many Kyoto itineraries for visits lasting 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 4 days and 5 days, plus tailored Kyoto itineraries for Shoppers, Temple Lovers, Hikers and Garden Lovers.

b) Osaka Info Guide and another one here.

c) Japan - the Official Guide site.

d) Kyoto Walking Trails - many ideas for great walking tours in Kyoto.

e) Japan Travel - the largest tourism and travel website and official collection of maps and guides.

Step 5 : Local Transportation

Last but not least is to know how to travel within the cities you are going to. This is especially so when one is travelling on your own and not on any travel package.

Learn how to get from the airport to the hotel. In major Japanese cities, there are usually several options - bus, MRT, express train etc.

My research shows that since I am in the Kansai region, the Icoca & Haruka pass is the best option. This package is a discount ticket package for foreign visitors arriving at Osaka's Kansai Airport. It provides transportation from the airport into the city by the Haruka limited express train and an Icoca prepaid card for use on urban transportation at a highly discounted price.


Icoca & Haruka (as of April 1, 2014)
One-way version
3,030 yen
Roundtrip version
4,060 yen


The Icoca & Haruka packages consists of a) a ticket that can be used to travel from Kansai Airport toOsaka, Kyoto or Kobe and b) an Icoca prepaid card valued 2000 yen that can be used on urban transportation in the Greater Osaka region. The roundtrip version of the package additionally includes a ticket that can be used to travel back to Kansai Airport.

Another useful website is the Japan Rail. This website is an unofficial website about Japan Rail Pass, other rail passes and rail travel in Japan. It explains you how to use Japan Rail Pass and assists you to use Japan Rail Pass to its maximum! And also this site explain about many more rail passes, gives you tips and supports you to enjoy rail trip in Japan.

From this website, i find the links below particularly helpful for my trip: -

a) Guide to take trains in Osaka. How to choose the best route by train to get the major spots?
b) Visit Kyoto, Osaka, Nara and Kobe for 5 to 7 days sample itinerary
c) Sample itinerary of day trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima from Osaka/Kyoto
d) Kansai Hiroshima Area Pass. Perfect deal for the traveller who wants travel both Kansai and Hiroshima.

I hope this guide helps.

Happy travelling!