We fly AirAsia from Singapore to Langkawi, Malaysia. AirAsia is a very large budget carrier, owned by Tony Fernandez of Malaysia. It has been a stunning success, however, it was hit by a crash last year when AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed, presumably due to bad weather and some pilot error.
The flight time was quite short, only 1hr 20minutes, approx. Now the fun started. We had pre-booked our meals, however, it looked like a large number of pax also pre-booked their meals and turned out that the service was very slow. There appeared to be a large group of pax on the plane, travelling together. Many of them also pre-booked meals.
The pilot had announced the start of descent, yet we hadn't gotten our food! Then, the cabin crew (4 of them) started to dish out the pre-booked food more and more rapidly, even as the plane was descending. It turned out that we ended up eating our meals right through descent and landing! Is this normal? Well, I got the entire experience on video, and you can watch it to believe it.
Some stills. I spotted this very long bridge from the air. Later on, I learnt that this was either the Penang bridge or the Penang Second Bridge (the latter bridge is longer). Not sure which one this is.
By the time I got my meal, we were already very close to landing.
This is how the Bukhara Chicken Briyani looked like. The taste wasn't bad.
Upon landing, the plane quickly taxi-ed to the terminal and I saw this Malaysian Airlines jet that had just pushed back.
This was a small airport, no aerobridge.
Another view of the plane, in the bright sun.
Earlier in the morning, this was the first part of the video of the Air Asia flight, taxi-ing out of Changi International. The plane was slightly late in arrival, but the disembarkation of passengers and our embarkation was relatively quick. We had to taxi for a very long while before take-off. During the taxi, I saw the upcoming Terminal 4, which is about 70% completed. I think Terminal 4 will open in 2017. Once we took off, I could see a large piece of land being cleared. This should be the site of the future Terminal 5. Here is the video.
I was in Amsterdam. As I had some time to spare, I decided to visit the Heineken Experience, which was within a 15 minute walk of the hotel that I was staying at. It was very touristy, but I did enjoy the visit, though I am unlikely to visit again. Here are the videos I made of the experience.
In this video, I enter the attraction and see the large vats from the past.
In this video, I watch a video (part of the tour) and taste some fresh Heineken Beer!
In this video, I personalize a bottle for 6.5 Euros. Momento.
In this video, I enter some games area.
In this video, I get a Heineken Beer Extra Cold! Nice!
Thanks for reading and watching my videos. Have a great day.
The Loaf Bakery and Bistro, Langkawi. This is a premier bakery first opened in 2006, at the Perdana Quay in Telaga Harbour Park. Subsequently they have opened in several places in Malaysia.
The Loaf produces bakery products like bread, pastries, cookies using traditional Japanese methods. They also have a comprehensive ala carte menu, where you can have breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The Loaf is owned by Tun Dr Mahathir, the most famous ex-Prime Minister of Malaysia. This video shows you our experience at the Loaf Langkawi, Perdana Quay. We had heard about this place and decided to come here for lunch. The bistro is located quite near the SkyCab Cable Car.
Here are some pictures. Inside the Bistro.
The first breakfast item caught my attention. Why? It says Tun's Breakfast! Can I conclude that this is Tun's favourite breakfast? For RM 26, you get a choice of lamb, beef or chicken curry with toasted bread, soft-boiled egg, orange juice, coffee OR tea. Sounds hearty!
Front page of the menu. Prices were still reasonable by Singaporean standards. But of course these prices would be expensive by local standards.
Back page of the menu, including drinks. Cappuccino for 10RM.
Hot coffee. Neat cup. Came with a nice cookie too.
Some of the breads on sale. These breads were supposed to be very good.
This was the Loaf signature club sandwich. Very hearty!
Do watch the video to see what food we ate, including signature sandwiches, soup, laksa, grilled fish on rice and grilled chicken on rice. Thanks for reading!
I say at Hotel Bayview for a few nights on a trip to the beautiful island of Langkawi, Malaysia. This hotel is located in Kuah, the commercial centre of Langkawi.
The view from my hotel room. On the left side is Kuah, the commercial center of Langkawi. Nearer the beach, there seems to be some new construction, not sure what they are building.
Some pictures from the hotel buffet breakfast. This is Roti Canai
I think these were the condiments for the chicken porridge.
These were condiments for the Nasi Lemak.
Nasi Lemak rice - delicious!
My serving of Nasi Lemak. Yummy! Sambal chilli is very important.
Some pictures of some food I had when staying at Hotel Bayview, Langkawi. Hotel Bayview is located in Kuah, which is the downtown commercial area of Langkawi. Not a big area, but at least there were some shops to buy food and groceries.
This was a coffeeshop located about a 3 minute walk away from the Hotel Bayview. Here is a video.
A picture of the won ton mee I had, for 5 Ringgit. The coffee was a bit sweet though.
From my hotel room, I could see these shophouses which had eateries and shops. So I explore the nearby vicinity of the hotel and come across this eating place called Domino's restaurant, not to be confused with the Dominos pizza chain.
The prices looked reasonable and I was just looking for a quick bite. So I ended up with this pasta and some iced coffee. It was a very hot day!
Here is a video of the place. Other than myself, only 2 other patrons. No worries, the waiter spoke good English.
And I walked around Kuah town center some more and entered an alcohol shop as well as a shop selling chocolates and other 'duty free' stuff.
This was a local eating house (coffee shop) along the same road, again rather near the hotel.
I travel to Langkawi, Malaysia. This was my experience taking the world's steepest cable car, and then walking on the Sky Bridge! First, I share the videos. Pictures to follow later.
Langkawi Sky Cab Steepest Climb in the World
Langkawi Cable Car Middle to Top Station
Langkawi Cable Car Inclinator to Sky Bridge
Langkawi Walking on Sky Bridge (Curved Bridge) - Swiss Design Award 2005 winner
Descending from Top Station to Base Station
Journey to Langkawi Sky Cab
And now, for more sight-seeing. Today, we head to the Cable Car, Panorama Langkawi.
From our hotel, it would take about 40 minutes (depending on traffic). Here is a signpost to the place, still 21km away. I recall this signpost was near Hotel Bayview, well at least not soon after we left.
The roads were in a good condition and generally clear, at least when we were travelling. The driver did say that Langkawi could get very busy, but it didn't felt too busy when we were there.
We arrive at the Oriental Village, which leads to the cable car.
These were the ticket prices
That looks really steep. Apparently, this is the steepest cable car in the world, so claimed the Malaysians. If somebody knows of another cable car set-up that is even steeper, please let me know.
At the middle station, we got off the cable car to check out the views. If you were in a hurry to get to the top, you could decide to stay in the cable car instead of getting off. This was taken at the middle station.
Great view of Langkawi from here. Even better from the top station.
The top station, where the cable cars make a roundabout and head back down again. I wonder how many trips a cable car makes in a day.
I can see the middle station (far left) and top station, where I am now, on the right. See the cables.
The open walkways at the top looked rather new. Good day to be up here. Beautiful views all around.
At the top. This sign indicates that this is the birthplace of Malaysia.
From the top station, we could see the Sky Bridge, a curved bridge. We would be heading there shortly.
The geology was fascinating. Many peaks and sheer drops.
They started this locks thingy on the bridge. Very nice. Not many locks at this stage but I think the numbers will grow over time.
We are in the market for a new car. Good thing is that our existing car still has more than 1 year to go and we have been considering a new car and we know we need to give ourselves enough time to get a car.
At first, the plan was just to go to a dealer to do the usual booking, plus guaranteed or non-guaranteed COE and then get the car. But since we had some time, we did a bit more research and realised that perhaps bidding for our own COE wasn't too difficult.
Some considerations.
First, we could bid through DBS ATM. Deposit is $10,000. Non refundable fee is $2. If I get a COE, I would have 6 months to register a car. And I don't have to pay for the rest of the COE until we register the car. So it is not the case that the full COE amount is deducted from my bank account upon successful bid. So that's cool and 6 months is a decent length of time. Here is some more information from the One Motoring website.
Second, we think that COE prices are headed downwards, since more COEs will be released this year. However, we know that when COE prices drop, the dealers may not pass on the full savings to the consumer. Well, dealers will be dealers. They also make some profit from this entire COE bidding process. Therefore, since LTA allows individuals to bid, then why not?
Third, we are not too particular about the specific trim or model of car. We are going for a Cat A car. Broadly speaking, I would be fine with an Altis. For PIs, I would also be fine with a Honda Vezel. I am leaning towards the Vezel, but let's see how.
Fourth, before we bidded, we randomly called up some dealers and PIs. We had heard before that dealers and PIs do not like individuals to bid for their own COEs. Some even say that they won't entertain you. Well, our experience wasn't too bad. I don't think the dealers/PIs sounded very enthusiastic but almost all said they will sell us the car and gave us a price. The price would, of course, vary from the price that they charge if you go with them for a full package. Later, I found out from some friends that some dealers or even big PIs may already have some new cars in stock that they can sell to you. If you have a ready COE, can do a deal. If they want to clear stock, maybe even can get a good discount.
With the above, we were confident that we after getting our own own COE, we will be able to go shp around for cars and get a car. Most important is that our requirements are flexible, and we will just get the best deal we can, given our preferences. Another important point is that we already have saved up enough to pay for the new car outright, so we don't have to worry about the deal being complicated by financing.
So why not? Try lah.
Therefore, on 18 Jan 2016 evening, I put in a bid for my own COE through a DBS ATM Machine. I know it sounds a bit trivial, but I took a video of the process (which was very easy) and have since put up the video on Youtube (see below). Do watch the video if you want to know how much I bid for.
I also posted the experience in myCarForum and to my surprise, the post has generated substantial reactions! This is the link to the myCarForum post.
Bidding for my own COE
I think my video may be the first ever video on Youtube showing you how to bid for your own COE through a DBS ATM. When I do a search for "Bidding for COE" or "Bid COE", I can't find any other similar videos. Maybe I made history here!
Anyway, let's see whether I can get the COE this round. If not, I'm prepared to keep trying for a few more rounds, since there is still some time.
Very little action so far, see this screenshot on MyTransport App by LTA. Well, most of the action will be tomorrow, just before the COE bidding closes at 4pm. Stay tuned!
Update
As it turns out, I did not get the COE. This is the final outcome of the COE bidding. Cat A closed at $51,301.
Check out the bid prices rise in the last 10 minutes. Fun to watch. I put it in a slideshow.
Will I try again? Yes, I plan to. Stay tuned!
Do follow my blog as I will continue to update on the experience. Cheers and have a great day!
Today, the ship will call at Valletta, Malta. When we booked this cruise, about a year ago, the ship was scheduled to dock at Tunis. Unfortunately, tragedy struck with the mass shootings of passengers from the ship. Condolences to all the deceased in that horrific act of terror. As a result, the itinerary was changed and instead, we would call at Valletta, Malta.
Let me start with pictures of the MSC Daily.
Front page of the daily.
Bottom part of front page.
Entertainment highlights.
As the ship was only going to dock at 10am, we had plenty of time in the morning, for breakfast and to relax on board. We had breakfast in the suite restaurant, as usual. In this video, I just highlight the very nice bottled yogurt that we can get in the YC areas. I couldn't find this yogurt in the main buffet.
This was the MSC Express breakfast. One of my kids must have asked for this.
We had some time after breakfast to wander around. So I went up to check out the kiddy water play area. Hadn't taken a close look at it the last time round. So here is a video.
They have this Top 18 Exclusive Solarium. You have to pay some money to use this space.
How much? I took this picture. I didn't pay to go up, so I have no idea how that area looks like.
Approaching Malta.
I wasn't the only person out of deck. Many passengers were up here to watch the beautiful sail in. Good weather today.
The scenery as we sailed in was great! In this picture, I am back on the balcony of my cabin.
Looking gorgeous in the sunlight.
The ship had to make a turn using her azipods, before moving backwards to get into port. This was to facilitate leaving port later. Azipods in action to turn the ship around. As we sailed in, backwards first, we spotted this 3 mast luxury yacht. Wow.
Made a video, of the luxury yacht.
At about this time, on the cabin TV, I noticed that they were playing advertisements from Etihad. Are MSC and Etihad in some alliance? Or maybe Etihad just bought advertisment space. Not sure.
The ship has docked in Valletta, Malta. From our balcony, I took this picture and noticed some interesting ships ahead of us.
And there was a submarine! Best part, it started to leave port. Looked like a tug boat was helping the submarine to make a sharp turn.
Fun to watch! I made this video while watching the submarine leave port.
The port was very convenient. We got off the ship.
A map of the waterfront. You have to walk along the waterfront (many shops) to the end where there are many private tour operators and taxi operators canvassing for business.
We walk along the waterfront. Pretty pleasant. Many private tour operators at the end of this short walk and the fares looked reasonable. For us, we ended up going with a white taxi company. We bought a 4-hour package (for 80 Euros) and the driver would bring us to the major sites, like Blue Grotto and Mdina. Follow along!
We were on our way! In the white taxi, which looked like this.
A very short video clip from the front passenger seat as we were leaving the port area. In Malta, the driver sits on the right side of the vehicle, like in the UK, Singapore, Malaysia. Makes sense - they were a former British colony too. Officially, they were called the Crown Colony of Malta, from 1813 to 1964. Fascinating, when compared to Singapore. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founded Singapore in 1819 and we became fully independent in 1965. Very similar time frame.
Some photos of the traffic, which could get very heavy during their peak times. Our driver told us that Malta had a serious car problem. Coming back, I googled the issue and indeed, they have a serious car problem. Way too many cars for a small island. They don't have an underground system and the public bus system doesn't see to be too well developed either.
The driver asked where we wanted to go. We said the most famous place which interested us was the Blue Grotto and so we wanted to go there first. And so we headed to the Blue Grotto. Took about 20-25 minutes to drive to get to this view point. I made this video of the viewpoint.
In the video, you can see that we were not the only people at the viewpoint. There were two tour coaches and I soon discovered that they were from the MSC Preziosa, ship's tour. In this photo, you can see our taxi parked in front of the two ship coaches.
A beautiful view of the blue grotto from a high position. Beautiful day! But it was going to be even more fun taking a small boat to go under the Blue Grotto.
We didn't stay too long at the viewpoint. We wanted to go for the boat road quickly, so as to get there before the crowds. And so we did. From the viewpoint to the place to take the boat ride was about 10 minutes. We had to walk down some rather quaint slope and buy our tickets from this very quaint shopfront.
Knowing that this boat ride would be very awesome, I focussed on getting good video compilation. So here goes. In this first video, we buy the tickets for the boat ride and get to the pier, to wait for a boat. Then we set off! This is the video of part 1.
In this video, we continue on the boat ride. In total, the ride will take about 25 minutes. It is in the open, so thank God for great weather. We visit many sea caves. The seas were very calm, which helped. We complete the rest of the caves and make our way back to the pier. A very memorable boat ride indeed! Beautiful weather and it was neither too hot nor too cold. Later our driver told us that in summer, the temperature could rise to 40 deg C. Thankfully we were not here in summer!
Here are some stills from the Blue Grotto boat ride. A boat behind us. See the lady with the placard. Folks from the ship's tour had arrived.
More passengers from the ship boarding! This and the previous picture should give you a good idea how easy or difficult it is board the boat. There is obviously no step-free access. You will need to step into the boat and find your seat. They will pack 3 pax per row.
A picture of the pier as we leave.
This was the boat we took and the pier.
After the Blue Grotto ride, we would head towards the old historical city of Mdina, but before we do Mdina, we would visit some souvenir and glass shop. I took this photo while in the cab. The sticker tickled me a bit. "Meter or Bargain" Interesting.
In this video, you will see some scenes from the glass factory, souvenir shop and the drive there. Turns out that the souvenir shop area used to be a very important Allied airfield during WWII. They still had some photos of the airfield, see 1:45 of the video. I don't know much about the history of Malta's aviation but I think Malta saw a lot of aviation action during World War II.
Here are some stills of the WWII photos on display in the souvenir shop. This photo suggests that the first Spitfires arrived in Malta on 7 Mar 1942.
This photo shows some Hurricane aircraft.
And this photo shows a Canadian pilot by the name of George Buerling. The inscription on the photo says that he flew Spitfires from Malta and shot down 25 German planes. Very impressive! Back home, when I googled the name, I found out that Buerling was considered the most successful Canadian pilot during WWII. During the siege of Malta, he was credited with shooting down 27 aircraft in just 14 days.
Some pictures of the souvenir shop, where all the aviation history photos were located.
These artistic tiles were very pretty.
These too.
Plenty of mugs and smaller souvenirs, all very pretty. My kids bought a couple of key chains and magnets.
After the souvenir shop, it was a short drive to the glass factory, where we spent just a very short time looking at the goods. Didn't buy anything. There was supposed to be some demonstration but I think they were taking a break when we got there.
VISIT TO MDINA
Mdina also known by its titles Città Vecchia or Città Notabile, is a fortified city in the Northern Region of Malta. It served as the island's capital from antiquity until 1530, when the capital was moved to Birgu.
Mdina is a medieval walled town situated on a hill in the centre of the island. Punic remains uncovered beyond the city’s walls suggest the importance of the general region to Malta’s Phoenician settlers. Mdina is commonly called the "Silent City" by natives and visitors.[2] The town is still confined within its walls, and has a population of just under 300,[3] but it is contiguous with the village of Rabat, which takes its name from the Arabic word for suburb, and has a population of over 11,000.
This place felt more touristy. We had these horse carriages waiting for business. But there was no real practical need to take the horse carriage as the walk into Mdina wasn't very long, unless you can't walk much, then perhaps the horse carriage would be a good idea.
See the horse carriage going into the walled city. There was a small van in front of the carriage.
This map shows you the major sight within the walled city of Mdina. The place isn't too big.
According to the Bible, (ref Acts 28 1-10), the apostle Paul was being brought to Rome when he was shipwrecked, and he landed in Malta. This is the biblical text from the English Standard Version (ESV).
28 After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. 2 The native people[a] showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. 3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice[b] has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
7 Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. 8 It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him. 9 And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. 10 They also honored us greatly,[c] and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
This video shows us walking inside Mdina. Fascinating, that this place was from biblical times.
Museum of crime and punishment. Sounds scary. We didn't visit.
By this time, we were a bit hungry, so we decided to look for some place to eat. We hadn't done any prior research so we weren't sure what there was to eat. Perhaps we would just grab a quick bite and then eat more when we get back to the ship. Or, if we found a decent place, we would eat an full meal. Let's see what we could find. We walked into this cafe place, but the food didn't look too palatable.
So we kept walking and saw this sign. Xpresso bar and cafe at Palazzo de Piro.
Looked interesting. So we decided to go check it out. It turned out to be a lovely restaurant for lunch, at least for my family. Check out the video I made.
This was my burger. Freshly made. The kids loved the fries. You can see their pasta in the background.
This was my burger. Freshly made. The kids loved the fries. You can see their pasta in the background.
The views from the patio were awesome. We didn't sit outside (a bit too cold) but we came out to take some photos and videos.
After lunch, we would head back to outside the walled city where our driver would be waiting for us. On our way out, I spotted this sign. This walled city had her own police station. Neat.
Outside the walled city. This is the drop-off area and you can see some people waiting to board the coaches. On closer look, they were from the MSC Preziosa tour group! (Group number 36)
We went to the carpark just beyond the bus bay and found our guide very easily, which was good. Soon, we were headed off to some gardens. The traffic started to build up now. Too many cars in Malta, our taxi driver kept complaining.
Here is a video showing some snippets of the drive as we left Mdina and headed in the direction of Valletta.
What gardens? Oh this place we were going to turned out to be the St Anton Presidential Palace and St Anton Gardens.
We only took about 20 minutes here, enough to walk quickly through the gardens, see a bit of the palace from the outside, and walk back to the taxi. The best part of this visit was a nice pond where they are beautiful swans. Here is a short video.
Our final stop would be at Valletta itself. Here, we bade goodbye to the taxi driver, as he would drop us at the entrance into Valletta and take his leave. Later on, we would walk back to the ship from Valletta, which took about 15 minutes. You could also take a taxi, and the driver told us don't pay more than 15 Euros. (Usually the taxi drivers will charge you 25 Euros). It was worthwhile to spend some time in Valletta, as you shall see. This was the entrance.
Looked to be another fortified city of sorts? Very interesting.
And we take a walk along the streets.
In this video I show you some scenes of our walking. We stop at McDonalds to use their loo, and in the process I discovered that the McDonalds had free WiFi which was easy to use (didn't need password, I think). I guess such networks are not very secure, so do not transact confidential stuff.
Standing Guard
The Parliament of Malta. This place was close to the entrance to Valletta, and not where the soldiers were standing guard.
There was some restoration work going on. Not sure what historical site this was, within Valletta itself - looked like roman-style columns.
That is the Parliament building of Malta - stylish design.
After our short walk around Valletta, we decided to head back to the ship. The taxi driver told us we could walk (15 to 20 minutes), so we decided to walk. It was a nice walk, downhill. This video shows you how to walk from Valletta to the cruise port.
[Insert Video Later]
Along the way back, I managed to catch a good picture of this ship - Volstad Surveyor. It is an IMR vessel, deployed in the offshore industry.
In this picture, the MSC Preziosa is docked behind another vessel.
And we head back to the ship after a wonderful day out!
