staycation - Hotel Grand Pacific

I've earlier posted a review on BIG Hotel. The day before, we stayed at Hotel Grand Pacific. Perhaps the stark difference in the two hotels made us so happy with BIG. Hotel Grand Pacific was formerly known as Allson Hotel.

Website - http://www.hotelgrandpacific.com.sg

Address: 101 Victoria St (Bugis/Bras Basah area)

Date of stay: End Aug 2013

Room stayed in: Deluxe, level 7 (28 sqm, from Agoda)

Price: S$160 (before taxes)

Check-in/out time: 14:00 / 11:00 hrs (hotel rejected extension of check-out time)

Facilities (Restaurants, recreation, carparking) - Two restaurants, hotel's own cafe (Sun Cafe) and Ah Yat Abalone seafood restaurant. There is a fitness room and pool, but we did not try any of these. Carpark is at basement but non-complimentary. There are three lifts serving the hotel - speed is tolerable.

What's nearby - Many bookshops at the Bras Basah Complex. Our National Library is just oppposite the main road. It is also closer to Bugis MRT (compared to BIG), avoid the heat by walking in the airconditioned Bugis Junction mall access to the MRT instead. For the party-goers, Chijmes is also within 10 minutes walk.

Transportation options - Bugis MRT (East-West Line). There are also a significant number of public buses plying the main road outside the hotel, however these buses can get very crowded during peak hours. However, the same thing can be said of our trains - so avoid carrying bulky items during peak hours when people are going home or work.

Reception - At level 1. Check-in and out was a breeze. The only (and most annoying) gripe is that they did not inform carparking is not complimentary until i checked out the next morning. By then, the damage has been done.

Room (Bed, TV channel selection, airconditioning, furniture, security) - The entire hotel is in need of refurbishment. As such, the room condition is well kept, however very aged and unable to meet the expectations of people who seen better ones at the same price range. Bed comfort is average.

The hotel is still painfully stuck at the CRT TV age and channel selection is not fantastic.

The furniture is dated (can be downright boring if you do not have a liking for antiques).

There is an electronic safe in the wardrobe. Keycard access is required at the lifts, however not properly restricted to the level we stayed at. We had a problem entering the room after supper, the front desk staff was helpful to settle the matter after few minutes of explanation and self-trial.

Bathroom (Toiletries, Bathtub, Water supply) - Basic toiletries such as shower cap, liquid soap/shampoo were provided. Hairdryer is also provided.

Plumbing were largely fine and water supply was good and hot water stably supplied. We felt however, the bathroom felt more like the ones we used in public wash rooms.

Verdict - We are not coming back anymore. Until there is a major renovation and they re-look their check-out timing and parking policy. It is simply not worth the money spent.

staycation - BIG Hotel

This is the first staycation review. Being a reviewer from a local's standpoint, it may not be so useful to the tourists, but i hope to help everyone who is googling for answers.

Website - http://www.bighotel.com
Address - 200 Middle Road (Bugis/Selegie area)

Date of stay - Aug 2013

Room stayed in - Superior, level 13 (around 12 sqm)

Price - S$125 (before taxes)

Check-in/out time - 15:00 / 12:00 hrs

Hotel facilities (Restaurants, recreation, carparking) - Cafe at B1, pub at L1, multi-storey carpark (note: parking is non-complimentary), 3-lift lobby serving the whole tower.

What's nearby - Immediately below the hotel, there is the Cheers convenience store and a roti-prata coffeeshop. If you're vegetarian, you will love this hotel as there are many vegetarian eateries opposite (Fortune Ctr). Walk a bit more and you can access the two big malls Bugis+ and Bugis Junction that are closer to Bugis MRT. If you are a good walker, you can even walk towards Selegie and start off your Orchard shopping journey from Dhoby Ghaut.

Transportation options - Bugis MRT (East-West Line) or Bras Basah (Circle Line). Both stations are equally rather far if on foot. There will be Bencoolen MRT (Downtime Line Phase III), but that is only ready in 2017.

Reception - The front desk is located at B1. If you carry many items, it makes sense to have the taxi ferry you to the drop-off point at L2 (enter by the carpark). The staff attitude was okay, we were there at 14:00 and she informed us she would only do the registration and provide the keycard at 15:00. Did not find out how punctual they were as we went for a meal at Bugis Junction and returned at 15:45.

Room (Bed, TV channel selection, airconditioning, furniture, security) - This is where we were willing to forgive the lack of complimentary parking and late check-in. The room is small, yet it felt unusually cosy. The bed was put on a raised flooring and felt very comfortable. The only problem, very tall or big sized folks will have a problem here - the bed is not that big, and you would be sleeping facing a wall. Also, the small room means only maximum two big luggage.

Thoughtful luggage compartment below the bed

There is no water boiler in the room - drinking water supply is communal and a quality Zojirushi hot water flask was provided.. We prefer this concept as we can get hot water any-time and keep the water warm longer as opposed to normal boiling flasks. Together with the hot/cold water dispenser, there is also an ice-maker near the lift lobby. It can be a bane if you need a lot of water like me... also if you dislike noise, do request for a room further away from these machines. 

Unfortunately, there is no fridge in the room, and there are no hotel alternatives for this missing item. 

The TV selection is good (forgot the listing), but there are news and entertainment channels. Also, there is video-on-demand. A few movies were available at no cost (at least for our stay). The TV is mounted in front of the bed. 

The furniture is of good quality, the wood was left raw (so were some portions of the walls). There is a small working table with two wall sockets and two USB charging ports, one of them reserved for the Nexus tablet. The Nexus tablet would allow us to control the room lighting wirelessly and surf the Internet.

Airconditioning control is via a Daikin controller. The air blows toward the window, which can get chilly at a moment and somewhat warm next. Not really consistent.

There is an electronic safe below the bed. Keycard access is required at the lifts and only for the floor your room is at. Two keycards were provided for our stay.

Bathroom (Toiletries, Bathtub/Shower, Water supply) - The wash basin is slightly bigger than an aircraft's and located outside the bathroom. There is no bathtub, however the rain shower makes up for this. The water pressure is good and hot water very stable. 

Verdict - If the price is right, we will re-visit this hotel.

recent rail outages

i think if you are reading as a singaporean, you should be very much aware of the train disruptions that plagued mostly SMRT's NSL/EWL and even the newly commissioned Circle Line.

it's interesting to note, NSL/EWL are the nation's core / heavy capacity lines with 6 cars. The CCL was designed as a medium capacity line, that is the reason for 3 cars.

as a layman and touch-and-go public transport enthusiast, i can't comment much on what exactly is wrong that causes all the disruptions. But i feel SMRT has lost much of its focus as a transportation provider which manages the 24 year old core railways that our ex President Ong Teng Cheong worked so hard to push through. Since it is listed in the local stock exchange, their focus in on cost cutting, profit maximisation and growing ancillary revenues, maybe from their shopping xchanges at the various MRT stations.

all these are not wrong, not right. Now that there is possible mismanagement that led to the disruptions today, SMRT has to bring their focus back to their basic purpose - effective and effective transport. Given their state of rail management and public anger today, it might be heading for an overhaul. I hope they can also realise that their bus operations are in dire need of expansion to cope with emergencies. We seen yesterday, there were rail disruptions but alternative means to move on were in bad order - lack of shuttle buses (fyi buses were frantically pulled from feeder services but still not enough), lack of communication.

i don't know how to help SMRT, the PR is not receptive to public's suggestion. I just hope someone with hindsight and foresight can help bring back this operator from its sleep since Miss Saw took over.

tanjong pagar railway, good bye

i have not gotten the chance to grab a train ride to/from this station this year. Sad it has to go though.

my family and i had much memorable time at this train station. Recall from my childhood days, every year we would take a taxi from Bedok and catch the train at 9am to Kluang. During the new year, the station would be very crowded at the old metallic gate. Onboard the non-airconditioned cabin, we would stand or sit near the door till we reach.

hopefully in time to come, i can have some time to board the train from Woodlands. Meantime, good bye!!

MACS - Malaysia Automated Clearance System

recently, i have been a frequent traveller to Malaysia. If you frequently get out of our small dot, you will understand the hassle of filling in white cards, no matter which country.

heard that there is a way to avoid this white card problem, if you get into Malaysia via the land checkpoints. The prerequisite is minimum 4 trips a month. Cost wise, RM30 plus a passport size photo. The arrangement is valid for a year. A sticker will be affixed onto the next empty endorsement page.

although i drive in, for the purpose of this application i decided to take 170 instead. For drivers, park nearby the checkpoint and walk in. The 24 hours "one stop centre" that entertains the MACS application is just located behind the counter where white cards are issued to travellers. If you take any bus in and follow the crowd to the arrival hall, you won't miss this OSC. Take an application form, fill it up, then take a queue number and wait.

my experience
the only problem i faced, there were long queues (peak hour) at the hall. I thought since i was applying for MACS, i can bypass these queues. But the lady told me to first chop my passport at counter 17/18 (MACS lane), then u-turn back to OSC to continue the application. Even for MACS lane, the queue was horrible. Anyway, went to queue at 17, but realised the queue was not moving much after a while. Then i went back to tell the lady, she said counter 18 instead. At counter 18, an immigration uncle came over and said the queue was meant for people with special needs, such as elderly and parents carrying their baby. The queue barely moved 10m in 1.5 hrs. Got a little upset, went back to the lady and told her politely that the queue was really taking too long. Then she got her colleague to 'bypass' the chop and process the application straightaway.

within 15 minutes the sticker was ready. But we lost the interest to continue the queue (my partner did not have MACS), and asked for permission to return to SG via a glass door that leads to the Singapore bound bus bays.

i have to say, despite this sour experience due to the slow-moving queues, their staff are generally polite and on-hand to answer any questions. Just speak to them nicely and in simple english, they will return the favour. This was a far cry from the days of the stuffy and tiny passenger checkpoint before 2009. Appreciate their level of customer service, they have come a long way.

for those who are driving, the medium-term link is also up since early this year, no more F1 circuit course (short-term access) leading to the checkpoint anymore.

other links:

Online application portal

FAQs

my grandma...

it has been close to 2 months... i still get reminded of my grandma.

there is a funeral procession opposite my home, the gongs are bringing her to my mind again.

till now i always regret not having to see her before her death. I am very sad.

political scene seems much alive on internet than now

compared to 2001 and 2006, the Internet is now playing a bigger role in educating our local citizens to be more aware of the political landscape and the effect on our daily lives. Especially citizens born in the 1980s and later. Because it is also this generation that will be impacted from whatever govt policies meted out in the next 5 years.

so a question - would it be a better choice to hold your big ticket purchases (i.e. housing) till the GE is over, because the HDB market would meet an imminent end soon? Or buy now because PAP will soon adjust the 4 room flat price from $400k to $700k? Hmm...

IPT 2/8

till trying to find out Bedok FCC's way of operating their IPT, because i remembered Maju FCC was way better organised...

should list out the sequence of going for IPT -

1. Check-in camera hp outside camp

2. Park my car at the mscp (it's too small, unlike Maju)

3. IPT inpro at some random counter, which they will only announce when it's ready. Long wait and confusing here if there's IPPT and RT going on at the same time.

4. Collect a particular colour tag (they have yellow, blue, green and red to confuse everyone)

5. For session 1, take the CAT test (IPPT). For session 2 today, i went to the gym to take my body "age".



6. At the end of session, prepare to outpro. The person who owns a particular coloured tag and number, say 01, 11, 21, 31, etc will help to collect the tags from next 9 guys. Return the tags and get the outpro receipt in return.

7. Get out of camp.

when love is no longer present...

recently heard that a long time friend of mine parted ways with another friend of mine. Although we are all so mature and close to an age band where such things would be quite unimaginable, it actually happened. The only possible consolation - they aren't married nor they had any shared assets.

i won't know the reason behind, but definitely there must be some great underlying motivation and courage to sever a bond that was in place for years.

i can only hope it was not any temptation involved. I always feel that at the end of the day, differentiate between someone who really loves the other and a 3rd party who temporarily distracted a relationship.

5-10 years ago, we can get together easily, sit down and discuss. That was what i did and many of my friends really gave good advice. But now at our age, it seemed really awkward to talk about it, since each of us would appreciate some privacy and decisions especially in matters of the heart.

class 95 morning express

sometimes it's good to wake up early and join the rush hour drive to whichever customer in my schedule. Otherwise i wouldn't turn on the radio.

what FD and Glenn said seemed funny but were somewhat true and more importantly, made sense. These are roughly what they said, but not exactly word-by-word

"girls always think they can change their men. Then 5 years down the road, they realise they couldn't get married with that guy because it finally seemed impossible."

"sometimes the man actually changes, the girl regretted it."

i think the best is not to harbour expectations. But some of us are little perfectionists and tend to micro-manage things. I hope myself and friends around me would not turn a relationship into a doctor-patient problem. If there's things to remedy all the time, something is extremely wrong.

movies tally

the tally so far!

2008

• Wall-E

2009

• Ice Age 3
• Up (Cinema XXI)
  
• Avatar

2010

• Alvin and the Chipmunks 2
  
• The Spy Next Door
• Little Big Soldier
• Being Human
• Date Night
• Shrek Forever After 3D
• The Karate Kid
• Despicable Me 3D
  
• Nodame Cantabile - The Finale
• Au Revoir Taipei
• Ocean Heaven
• Love in Disguise
• My Darling is a Foreigner
• Eat Pray Love
• Legend 3D
• Perfect Wedding
• Megamind
• Rapunzel
• Doraemon - Nobita's Mermaid Legend
  
• Yogi Bear

2011

• Just Call Me Nobody
• It's a Great Great World
• The Ghosts must be Crazy
• Homecoming
• What women wants
  
• Morning Glory
• Hop
• Rio
• Hookwinked too!
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Transformers
• Zookeeper
• Friends with Benefits
• Happy Feet 2
  
• Magic to Win
  

hong kong march 2010 - 4 days

this travelogue has limited pictures, requested by my Missus.

as my faithful readers are aware, i'm a big lover of Hong Kong. Even joked to my girl, maybe we should have a kid holding HK citizenship, learn some good Cantonese and have good skin complexion owing to their seasonal climate. Singapore is just too stressful to bring up a kid, the cost of living is too high even for people holding citizenship. This is something our political leaders keep ignoring....anyway enough of the political mumbo.

day 1

this time round i chose Cathay, the same airline as my very first trip almost exactly 3 years ago. CX710, the early morning flight that required us to be checked in by 6.15am, and the homecoming flight CX735. Both are codeshared flights, so we saw some prominent groups of people, such as Japanese businessmen going home via HK, etc.

CX710

booking via Zuji seemed a bad move though. Not sure whose fault it was; we checked in rather late at 7am and got seats that separated us. Of course the lady was understanding and immediately changed our seats to babyseats (the seats right in front each section, more leg room). Went to T2 to have a quick breakfast at BK, then back to T1 just in time before the gate closed.

we're quite well seasoned travellers to HK by now, so going through the arrival procedures felt almost the same as going to JB. Decided to give Airport Express a miss this time, took bus S1 from the T1 bus terminus to Tung Chung MTR. From there, we took the normal MTR to North Point. Saved lots of money (HKD3.50 vs HKD160, excluding MTR charges), enough for 1-2 meals!

S1 - your normal double decker

checked in at our Ibis hotel at North Point, which offered a decent view of the harbour. In front is a giant carpark and a ferry terminal, that seemed to ferry people to Kowloon City. We didn't try that though. As usual i had problems adapting to the climate there - it was about 15 degrees with some winds, and had a headache.

Ibis - no bells and whistles, but decent accomodation

after a short rest, we went to Shun Tak at Sheung Wan to get our Macau tickets, then walked to Central Pier 5 to board bus 15. Bus 15 offered a really good experience up to the Peak Tower. Most tourists would take the Peak Tram since it's unique. But it's not so special to me by now! Bought tickets to access the Peak Terrace, which offered a reasonable view with some fogs.

Costs HKD25 to go up to the top

our dinner was simple, settled for a cha chan teng (Tsui Wah) at Causeway Bay. Wished the girl happy birthday when the clock struck 12!


day 2

The mess after only a night...

went to Ho Choi at Yau Ma Tei for dim sum, but it was full. I hated the wait, so i decided to forget it and we had normal breakfast nearby.

took the train to Sheung Wan and went on to board the fast craft. We were blur folks, joined a queue which was meant for the next trip. Then we saw people getting up and going direct to the exit gate, and realised we were queuing up for the wrong timing. zzzz...

Once inside the fast craft, not too bad

it's her first trip to Macau, so more attention paid to this part of the trip. She wanted to visit Venetian, so that was done. But before that, we took the Emperor Hotel's free shuttle and hopped over to Casino Lisboa for some Sic Bo. Lost HKD200 there...

Walked over to Lisboa...


The original Lisboa


Senado Square

then we went Ruins of St Paul, and took a cab to Coloane Island. I really loved the place, and wanted to revisit it. Thank god we managed to make this trip, felt happy when she enjoyed the time there.

The original Lord Stow's cafe

after walking through Venetian's nice Grand Canal Shoppes, we hopped over to City of Dreams, which is a relatively new casino that opened in June last year. Managed to recoup my losses, but lost it all plus another HKD200. Decided to stop the stupid gambling and left..

Venetian's bustling gambling fish market


City of Dreams Casino entrance

remembered we queued up earlier? We did this again, thinking it's for us. Then we only realised our foolishness after some people went into the gate directly. The boat ride back was alright for me, but she got seasick. So we didn't have our hotpot and went back to North Point. Happened to pass by a chan teng selling congee, so we happily ordered some nice stuff.


day 3

it's our 2nd last day, and the only actual full day left. But still woke up quite late, decided to give Ho Choi another try. Managed to get in, but had much difficulty ordering dimsum because of the Chinese characters. Can't even find siu mai!

Ho Choi's menu

we took the MTR to Kowloon Tong and transferred to the ex-KCR East Rail. Alighted at Tai Po Market, hailed a NT cab in green to Bride's Pool. Took us quite a while to get there, which was unexpected. And further in surprise was the location - it's in a hilly area, and it was part of a larger hiking trail! Didn't mind much anyway, because the weather was cooling and we had to keep warm anyway.

TPM MTR

Bride's Pool story...


Never knew HK has this right?

i learnt some basics of hiking from this nice little adventure. Lucky it was rather easy to complete, and hope to go for similar trails in future.

after spending few hours at Tai Po, zoomed over to Sha Tin and had some small shopping there. She wanted to see Snoopy, initially didn't find it and thought it was demolished. Then managed to find it, and got no time wasted to take pictures with the dear dog and the companions...

dinner was at Little Sheep, Mongkok branch. Loved this meal as well, although we again had problems ordering the food in Chinese. Cost us HKD313, which is around $58.

Order freely at HKD128/pax, not inclusive of service tax

day 4

we had to be at the airport by 12pm, so we didn't do much. Decided to opt for the in-town check-in at Hong Kong MTR, and realised an Airport Express ticket is required. Wanted to go Yuen Long since there's spare time, but she suggested not to due to the distance.

so we went to Sogo to get our biscuits, had lunch again at Tsui Wah. Then it was home sweet home!


afterthoughts

i hope my kid will be a Hong Kong citizen! (just joking...)

random

this year's CNY is a non event for me... simply no time to enjoy new year shopping and the actual new year.

some pictures from my camera...

Silver is in


At Geo-Tele


After work...


Removal of door panel...


Panel over here...


Centre - solenoid and motor driving the power window


Crossover buried beneath the door panel for the speakers...

75,000km servicing

wanted to do a minor checkup through Riverview's standard servicing package at $160, so they can help me identify any stuff that needs changing at 80,000km. I was more interested in the fan belt and rear brake pads check, the rest were alright... so i thought.

The candidate for this round

on reaching there, told Vincent i brought my own Redline oil, he jokingly said should use his oil. As cheeky as he was (and myself), i proclaimed my interest in trying different oils and specified that i could skip the engine bay and car wash. So instead of the standard package, he just charged me the oil filter + standard checks for $38, brake checks for $27 and a surcharge $15 for bringing my own oil. This is perfect alright, because i'm rather impressed by their mechanic's technical skills during the first visit.

then the checks started at 1.30pm, and ended at nearly 5pm. Reasons being...

1. Drain plug out of stock. The aluminum plug become thinner after few rounds of engine oil change. Sourced from their partners, still don't have. Small problem actually, the mechanic Ang used white tape to prevent leaks.

2. Rear brake pads worn out. One was finishing, the other just finished. So got it changed, and surprised that they used OWS Quit Squeal on the brake pads when taking them out. No additional charge.

3. Tyre damaged, discovered during rotation. The inner sidewall of one of my Falken ZE522s started to tear in 4 spots. According to them (and 2 more tyre shops) it's a explosion risk. Changed to a brand new set of Yokohama S.drive at Chen Jin Trading. More on this later...

4. Too much gap on NGK Iridium sparkies. Ang offered to re-gap for me, but i declined - no more Iridium plugs that cost $80-150 for me. Asked for a set of copper plugs, only $22.

The iridium plugs from NGK, Huat Lee charged me $85 1 year ago


Too big a gap...

5. Coolant filled incorrectly. I remember from the 70,000km servicing it was done at the tyre shop at AMK Ave 1. My reserve coolant tank was empty, and the main tank was still not full. Apparently it needs to be drained via vacuum, otherwise it's not properly done. That tyre shop overfilled my engine oil too, so i've learnt a great deal - never use a tyre shop for servicing.

6. Other checks - third brake light bulb burnt, they charged me $3. Quite alright, but should have told them i'll switch to LED one. And they checked the spare tyre too.

the trip to RV cost me $180, which wasn't expensive considering the extensive checks and change of sparkies and brake pads.

the tyres cost me $145 each, with unlimited free rotation and balancing at their Serangoon and Woodlands branch. Learnt something from this shop as well - the tyre shop i went to did their tyre balancing on the outer side only, not the inner side. Scary stories ....

S.Drive

thinking aloud

have been a while since i posted anything here, been somewhat busy after clearing my leave.

i just read a facebook update that my buddy alerted me. Felt rather angry upon reading it. I must say it's her right to post whatever she likes, so i'll keep my comments right here.

even if there was no good ending from a previous chapter with my friend, i would rather she kept her mouth shut and not risk hurting the feelings of her ex. Does making that comment online on her facebook make her a superior mortal cum lover than before? I guess it does.

on the same note, i hope the guy who dumped another friend of mine can be kinder on his words. Not going to mention names here...

some lessons to learn from car grooming...

shall compile some important lessons gained from own muscle grease...

1. change of microfibre cloth occasionally. How to know it's time to change? Compare a MF cloth brand new hanging on the shelf in Autobacs or Homefix, and yours. If the cloth is coarse and has lots of large particles stuck in between, better not risk creating swirl or scratch marks on the paintwork.

This also explains why you shouldn't use tissue to wipe off dirt...

of course, i always advocate not using sponge, especially used ones, on the paintwork. It's a big no-no.

2. rinse before shampoo. Some of us do it to our skin, hair, etc - same principle; get rid of the dirt before using soap. For cars, it prevents dirt from clogging up the microfibre cloth, making it more lasting.

There is a difference between 1st and 2nd/3rd bottle. The first strips wax.

3. claybar, polish, seal, wax. My major cleanup every 2-3 months involves all 4, or skip polishing in between. An excellent article by Meguiars is here.

my claybar: soft99 077 metallic ($19)
my polish: Autoglym Super Resin Polish, red label ($30)
my sealant: Autoglym Enhanced Gloss Protection, yellow label ($25)
my wax: Meguiars Ultimate Quik Wax ($19)
my cloth: Mr Clean Wax on/off cloth, pack of 3 ($3/pack)

The tools

most of these items, except the soft99 claybar, can be bought from Autobacs, Homefix or NTUC AMK. Costs about $100, which is about the cost of a single session of grooming by professionals. But this $100 can last you a year at least!

now to the technical side:

the claybar removes all the odd large particles that got stuck over time. Some say it also removes the sealant, and a non-waxing shampoo will remove previously coated wax. I believe in the latter but not really the former... but still use the claybar.

heard that polishing actually removes a layer of the clear coat, so i only do it when necessary. Such as paintwork getting dull, some stubborn spots like the ones caused by tyre gel.

a good sealant is self explanatory, it protects the raw layer of paint after polishing. So far, i'm finishing my bottle Autoglym gloss protection sealant, and will be moving on to Meguiars #21 Synthetic Sealant 2.0 next year.

to top all the hard work off, wax is required. In fact for lazy people, you can skip everything above BUT not wax. Singapore's weather is hot and wet and there are bird waste and tree sap, which will cause big problems with the paintwork if there's no wax to take the first blow from these elements.

there are various forms of wax available, from paste wax (longest lasting) to liquid wax (less lasting) to spray wax (least lasting). I converted from liquid to spray recently, because it's just too tiring after the polishing and sealing rounds. Although it wears off easily, i can easily respray on a weekly basis. It's so simple that i go around recommending friends to use them.

4. quick detailer. I'm still trying out this product. It claims itself as the missing link between washing and waxing.

5. foam vs silicon/gel tyre shine. I have not tried any foam based shine yet, only Meguiars Insane Tyre Shine (petroleum based) and Endurance Tyre Gel (silicon based). I prefer the petroleum based, because it didn't blacken my fender area. And the blackened parts can only be polished off. Beware...

other kinds of solutions i use

1st ICT - 7 to 9 dec

my buddies have already completed 3 high keys and this is only my 1st low key, not even high key! SIAN!

anyway this ICT was meant for IHL peeps, so i met all the nice people that are studying in NTU, NUS. A small number of us are finished with studies, so we'll join the gang for a major exercise in 2011.

over the 3 days our DyS3 briefed us on the training programme and some expected events for next year and year after. In 2010 the division will be occupied with SYOG, so no military callups except for range in Sept. There's also mob manning in Mar/Apr, which they claim high possibility of activation. In 2011 there will be a major exercise.

other stuff, there was ippt and healthy lifestyle run. Plus a CO conference where we got to interact with all the key appointment holders. But my company's OC and CSM went off early... so never got to talk to them personally about my appointment. Hopefully there are no hiccups with it...

polishing...

just done a 5 hour marathon on the car, the usual polishing, sealing, waxing and quick detailing. The bottle of Autoglym sealant is almost used up, time for a new one. And also the dashboard protectant and a set of microfibre cloths...

Shine #1


Shine #2


Organised mess


Side indicator


Sometimes when one is too itchy handed... it's not so good - broken clip


Direction indicator - big bulb!


My colleague should put his 9288 beside this...

70,000km servicing

i realised i'm servicing the car much quickly compared to normal schedule. To be exact, every 3 months. With my new implementation of servicing every 8,000km, actually there's quite a bit of cost. For simplicity, i round up the numbers instead of saying 58,900km, 67,000km... etc.

the last servicing at 60,000km was really dull, simply change of engine oil and transmission fluid. Used up 4 quarts of Amsoil 5W-30, with 1 quart still lying around at home. The transmission fluid is Honda ATF-Z1, to prevent incompatibility issues. Will be doing the tranmission again at around 80,000km.

this 70,000km, i changed the choice of engine oil yet again. This time, OWS NA racing oil, thinner at around 5W-20. Plus, change of coolant and front brake pads, which i used original Honda Type II coolant and OEM Nissin pads from the Honda stockist Thian Seng. The left front pad was fully used up, thank god this was discovered early...

Packaged just like normal cooking oil...


Direct replacement, no need to mix with distilled water...

the only problem out of this servicing - the engine oil seemed to be overfilled! When the engine was warm, the dipstick still showed oil at the max indicator! Need to drain off some of it...


the next 80,000km will be a nightmare, since it's a major servicing point. Reminder for me...
- tyres (inspect)
- rear brake pads (inspect)
- transmission fluid (change)
- brake fluid (change)
- spark plugs (inspect)

gonna be broke...

my birthday

many wishes from people in facebook and some through sms! Thank you all!

she did much small stuff...

1. mee sua with shredded egg and mushroom
2. a slice of cake
3. wrapped 2x t-shirts
4. 2 boxes of jellies, 1 big bear!

i'm looking forward to a BBQ or steamboat...!

Cookiess


The munchies she got from home


BIG BEAR HUG!