11th Dec, 2007

Hatyai Tips – Part 1

Last two months, we went for a short trip to Hatyai, Thailand. I enjoyed Hatyai foods and its shopping paradise.It is awesome. For those who haven’t been there, I highly recommend you to visit there.

Here are some details of our fabulous trip to Hatyai. Hope you find it useful.

Transportation ( RM50 – round trip)

Swiss Hotel located in 431 Chulia Street, Penang.
Contact no : 04- 2620133, 04-2620306
Penang – Hatyai Departure Time :

5.00 A.M
8.30 A.M
12.00 P.M
4.00 P.M

OR

Contact Ah Beng at 016 -488 3708

This is another contact of Hatyai van which was recommended by my colleagues. Good service and not to worry, the van is in good condition. The company situated in Sg. Ara.

If you are traveling in a group, you can ask a favour from the driver to pick you up at designated place. Pick up point is negotiable.

Journey to Hatyai is approximately 3 hours and of course passport is needed to travel to Hatyai.

After so long and before I forget about it, I better continue the 2nd part of my silly 1 day trip to Singapore.

After online for 1 hour at the lobby of Gateway Hotel, I headed to Singapore EXPO the World Internet Summit by taking the MRT. It took me about 10 minutes walk from Gateway Hotel to Paya Lebar station of the MRT’s East West Line. Before reaching Singapore EXPO I needed to change train at the other side of the platform at Tanah Merah station.

World Internet Summit Singapore 2007
World Internet Summit Singapore 2007

I stayed at the summit for only 2 hours before leaving due to the heavy flu I caught during the 10-hour journey on the bus. Head was heavy and not feeling well too. So, I went back to the Hotel for check in and rest.

Upon check in, I quickly rushed to the hotel room. To my utmost disappointment, the room given was without a single window! While I was having difficulty to breathe using my nose, I rang the receptionist to ask for a change of the room type. Unfortunately there was no more room with window left until tomorrow and there was no guarantee. To make the situation worse, the air conditioner was placed right beside the bed. I had no choice but to switch on the air conditioner because the air circulation was bad in the room. Anyway, I popped a few Panadols then slept for 3 hours under the thick blanket.

Woke up at 5pm something. Head was feeling better but was still having running nose. Took MRT back to Golden Miles Complex to get the return bus ticket to Penang on the night itself as I think even if I stay for the summit I will not benefit much from it. Furthermore, experience I had at Gateway Hotel was not a pleasant one too. The bus ticket I bought was a Starliner which costs SGD$52 (around RM115).

After getting the bus ticket, I had to deliver 2 cakes bought in Penang for my mum’s friend who stays in Clementi. Had my dinner with her family before heading to Sim Lim Square to hunt for some electronic gadgets. Sim Lim Square is located just 5 minutes walk away from the Bugis MRT station.

Sim Lim Square
Sim Lim Square

I thought of getting a Nokia N73 in Singapore as the price is cheaper as compared to getting it in Malaysia. However, nothing was bought in the end because there is no international warranty for mobile phone according to the salesman. I went back to the hotel to pack my stuffs after just staying for 30 minutes in Sim Lim Square.

I left Singapore at around 10pm. Starliner bus was not as comfortable as the 18 seated Super VIP bus but I could not ask for more anyway. After about 10 hours, I reached my beloved Penang at around 7am. That ends my silly 1 day trip to Singapore. 🙂

The price-cutting battle among airlines in Malaysia has finally begun!

Malaysia budget airline, AirAsia, begun their promotion of the month on Monday (19/6/07) by giving up to 90% discount to the air fares.

Then just an hour ago, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) officially joined the battle today (20/6/07) by offering air fares as low as RM1 for selected domestic flights and as low as RM10 for selected international flights!

Details as the following :-

Booking Period : 9am, 20 June 2007 – 11am, 22 June 2007 (50 hours promotion!)
What’s so hot? : RM1 for domestic flight; RM10 for international flight

MAS June 2007 Promotion

Check out MAS offer here!

p/s : The booking system is giving error while I was trying to book for this promotion at 10:15am, 20/6/07.

Update:

Trying to access www.mas.com.my at 4:30pm, 19/6/07 again but received the following message :-

Dear Valued Customer,

Due to overwhelming response, our server is currently busy. Please try again later. For more infomation, kindly contact our Call Centre at 1300-88-3000. Thank you!

MAS Server Down

Sigh~ Due to this server down issue, I wonder how many hour is left for this 50 hours offer!

Hi all travel lovers,

In conjunction with Malaysia Mega Sale Carnival 2007, AirAsia is having another round of promotion this month!

Details as the following :-

Booking Period : 19 June 2007 – 1 July 2007 (13 days promotion!)
Travel Period : 3 July 2007 – 30 September 2007
What’s so hot? : Discount up to 90%!

AirAsia June 2007 Promotion

You may want to check all the low fares via this link.

Enjoy traveling, everyone!

So, I had a silly 1 day trip to Singapore last weekend. Angel didn’t go with me as she had to work. 🙁
In fact, I only stayed in Singapore for less than 16 hours on last Saturday (26/5/07).

Actually, I was suppose to stay in Singapore from 26/5/07 (Saturday) until 30/5/07 (Wednesday) for the World Internet Summit held at hall 2 of Singapore EXPO. Due to my travel partner, Mr. Chan (owner of Exabytes) had a back injury the day before going to Singapore, he had to canceled his trip. Hence, I traveled to Singapore alone by bus.

I went to Singapore from Penang by Konsortium 18 seated Super VIP bus, which costed RM75 a ticket. The chair was very very comfy and it can be reclined to almost a straight line. It means you don’t have to bend your leg at all lying on it. Not to mention there is a LCD screen in front of every seat which you can play movies or songs, in both English or Chinese languages.

The bus took only 10 hours (9:30pm – 7:30am) to reach Singapore and dropped us at Golden Miles Complex, where you can find many travel agencies located in the building. This Complex is near to Lavender station of MRT‘s East West Line.

I went to check in at Gateway Hotel located at Joo Chiat Street around 8am. The room was booked online by Mr. Chan via Asiaroom.com. I couldn’t check in so early because the hotel’s rules saying guests can only check in after 2pm. So, before I decided what to do next I paid for their WIFI service, which costed SGD$4 per hour, to get myself online at their lobby. In the 1 hour online, I called Angel’s handphone using SkypeOut, a cost effective way to call landlines and mobiles in many countries direct from Skype.

To be continue in Part 2 – About Singapore EXPO, Gateway Hotel & Sim Lim Square

Categories

World's Sunlight & Weather Map