Friday, March 29, 2013

Budget Airlines - A boon to Filipino travelers

Many years back, a middle-class Filipino family would find it prohibitive to travel even to nearby Hong Kong due to exorbitant cost of plane tickets; air travel used to be the within the sphere of the rich and elite Filipinos.

Nowadays, many budget airlines have sprouted. They even offer big discount if you'll book your flight months ahead. However, you need to be prepared for no-frills service which means no complimentary snacks and drinks but you can buy them in-flight. Be prepared as well to bring your own gadgets since you have to entertain yourself during the entire flight; there is no audio/video facilities. Well, for around 2 hours flight, it is not a big deal actually. Passengers are allowed to bring packed lunch or drinks (except Air Asia), Ipads and android tablets. In my case, I used my Walkman with noise cancelling while indulging a can of beer bought in-flight.

I remember a couple of years back, when travel ban to Yemen was imposed due to so-called "Arab Spring," my eldest and I went to Hong Kong so I would be able to leave Philippines. We hurriedly booked our ticket at PAL and paid a whopping 19k pesos for round-trip tickets for both of us. Quiet pricey but my company reimbursed all our expenses including Disney tickets. It was great, all Dads love freebies!

Moving ahead, in December 2011, my family (wife & 3 kids) visited me in Hong Kong to celebrate Christmas with me since I can't spend my vacation in Philippines due to lingering travel ban to Yemen. Due to lack of preparation, they paid 48k pesos to Cebu Pacific. This time I paid all their expenses from my own pocket. Anyhow, that was one of our best Christmases.

Few days back, my eldest graduated college and placed no 7 in the Marketing Professional examination board. As our gift to him, my wife and I planned a family trip again to Hong Kong with side trip to Macau and China. This time we did the preparation as early as 6 months back and booked SEAIR or Tiger airways from Clark. We were fortunate because they were having a Hong Kong promo at that time. We paid 20k + pesos for 5 people round-trip with checked-in luggage of 50 kg both ways since aside from bringing tons of snacks to Hong Kong we were planning to search for ladies clothes for our online shop too. Wife and I were elated because of huge savings. More saving means additional budget for shopping, she said. My excitement was short lived :-(

20,645 pesos for 5 people - round trip to HKG & MLA

However, few days back, I received a flight notice from Tiger Airways. Due to network review, their flight back to Clark (DMIA) was moved the following day. Hence, instead of spending 4 nights in Hong Kong, we will stay there for 5 nights. It means additional 1 night hotel, transport, food, Park N Fly, etc. While family is rejoicing, surely, all Dads would fret about this change of plan.

Our Hong Kong plane fare was cheaper than our usual Bangkok plane fares which range from 12k to 14k pesos round-trip for 2 person though I must admit that Bangkok was a bit farther than Hong Kong.

In all our flights using different budget airlines, to minimize the fare, we never avail any of their extra services such as:
- seat selector
- in-flight meals
- first to board
- sports equipment fee

Trust me, you don't need these extra services. I just hope that we will never encounter a cancelled flight with budget airlines since I am sure we won't have any choice but to sleep at the airport. 

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Cambodia - Tonle Sap Floating Village from Kompong Khleang

Tonle Sap or "The Great Lake" is quite unique in a sense that its water flow outward to Mekong river during dry season and reverses itself during rainy season. Either way, the locals are able to cope-up with this natural event by living in floating houses. Initially, I simply expected boats converted into houses but I was wrong; I saw real houses with balcony and terraces floating at Tonle Sap.


Moori and some of his friends accompanied me to this memorable trip while we were waiting for their friend's wedding reception to start at Kompong Khleang. We came here by tuk-tuk which made the trip more exciting and dusty, lol. We went to a nearby small pier and negotiated/hired a medium size boat for four of us for 20 USD (round trip) and was worth every cent. Comparing with other boat fare going to other floating villages, ours was dirt cheap. I believe the boat operator can't refuse my new friends who are tuk tuk drivers, unless he is willing to lose tourists/clients from these guys. It was dry season at that time and Kompong Khleang was bustling with life due to lake's low water level.


It took us around 30 minutes boat travel along the river before we reached the open lake. On our way we met several boats with tourists traversing the river as well.


Once we reached the open lake, the sight became stunning and magical. Tonle Sap is really enormous in size. I wonder how huge this lake would be during rainy season.




We roamed around the area and some kids started waving at us; a dog barked at us as well.

While in the area, I saw a bigger tourist boat which attracted some boat vendors. I am fortunate that Moori brought me to this place and not to some tourist traps at Chong Kneas as I read on the net.


Another 30 minutes was spent around the area before we decided to return back to Kompong Khleang to catch-up with the wedding reception.

Indeed, Tonle Sap is one of the most memorable places I have visited since it is quite fascinating to imagine living in that place far from the worries of modern day living.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Cambodia - The Royal Palace & Silver Pagoda

While in Phnom Penh, I thought the must visit places were "The Killing Fields" and "S21" only. Interestingly enough, while I was visiting these places, I saw a poster inside the Tuk-Tuk showing other touristy places inside Phnom Penh City. I was surprised to learn that a great and historical palace and a silver Pagoda beside it near Sisowath Quay was walking distance from my hotel. Well actually, you need sturdy legs if you decide to walk from Sorya Mall and Central Market area, where my hotel is located, up to "The Royal Palace." In addition, I was intrigued by the Silver Pagoda without any knowledge that it was called that way due to its silver tiles flooring.

It took me almost an hour of leisure paced walk before I reached The Royal Palace. You may take a Tuk Tuk for 2 USD to reach this place. Entrance fee was 3 USD and I added another 2 USD for my camera.

The Royal Palace was built in 17th century and served as official residence of the King of Cambodia and his family. It is also a venue for official rituals and ceremonies of the Kingdom.

Inside the complex are lovely and well manicured gardens with countless tropical flowers and plants. Likewise, it should come as no surprise that all the structures show great similarities with other Buddhist inspires structures that can be found in Thailand though the whole place is smaller and less grand compared to Bangkok's "The Grand Palace."

Silver Pagoda

Beside The Royal Palace is The Silver Pagoda or Wat Preah Keo Morokat (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha) which boasts of a flooring of more than 5000 solid silver tiles that weighs nearly six tons though only a portion of them is exposed for viewing. Aside from silver flooring, there are many religious treasures and artifacts as well such as the the primal Emerald Buddha statue while in front of it is another life size golden Maitreya (Future) Buddha that weighs 90 kg encrusted by several thousands of diamonds including a 25 carat diamond in the crown and 20 carat diamond embedded on the chest. As usual, photoshoot is not allowed inside the temple but I was able to walk barefooted on these silver tiles.

STRUCTURES INSIDE THE COMPLEX

Phochani Pavilion

The Throne Hall - closed thus all of us peeped at open windows

Chanchhaya Pavilion


You would find also a replica or model of Angkor Wat



There are also areas that are closed to the public such as the royal residence and the guest house for foreign visitors.

Like any other Buddhist temples, you need to follow a dress code. Your shoulders up to the legs should be well covered. Aside from that, no footwear or hats are allowed inside the temple.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Spotted - Fruit vendors at Floating Market


I spotted these fruit vendors at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. We availed a one-day tour when my wife and two kids visited me in Bangkok.

Aside from fruits, the floating vendors were selling souvenir items and local delicacies as well. Haggling is a common practice here. It was fun visiting this place though the waterways or canals were not that ideal.

This Floating Market is around 100 km outside Bangkok City thus; we traveled for several hours before reaching a small pier where we transferred to a long and slim boat. It took us almost an hour of exciting boat ride before we reached the main market.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Dad's Review - Spilled water on laptop, what to do next.

A couple of months back I bought a Sony VAIO core i3 with 4 GB RAM for my daughter as replacement for her three year old Asus netbook.

Fast forward and two weeks back, she accidentally spilled her water jug inside her backpack where her laptop was also placed. She initially dried the laptop for more than 30 minutes before starting it again. The laptop started to boot-up then went dead. When my daughter arrived at home from school, I asked for her laptop and removed the HDD and other components. I tried to air dry it overnight. It was useless; I can't make the laptop work again. I blew my top and reprimanded her. The laptop costs me a huge amount of money and it could mean money down the drain. I haven't spoke with my daughter for few days and I even refused to bring her laptop to any repair shop to let her know how disappointed I was with her.

After more than a week, my wife begged me to bring the laptop to a repair shop. The wife and I brought the laptop to a SONY shop at 5th floor of The Annex, SM City North EDSA. We were told to bring the laptop to their service center at Balintawak thus; we decided to bring it to nearby Silicon Valley Shop. The service supervisor informed us that all they can do was to simply clean the laptop for 1,850 pesos and if any part should be replaced then we need to do the same thing, bring it to SONY service center at Balintawak since they didn't have any access to SONY spare parts.

Knowing that there were many laptops shops in the area, we searched for another laptop repair shop. We found one beside the Silicon Valley. Admittedly, I was reluctant first since the repair shop looked like a Mr. Quickie shop or a shoe repair shop; a receiving/reception table and nothing else. Anyhow, we went inside and inquired. I was impressed by the technical knowledge of the young lady manning the reception area. Actually, there were three young ladies at the reception desk while I noticed some young technicians as well inside their small workshop; hidden from your view when you are outside the shop.

SST laptop repair shop

The young lady explained that the shop would charge us 400 pesos for diagnostic fee. In case they would be able to repair the laptop, the total repair charge would be 1,500 pesos (inclusive of 400 pesos diagnostic fee). For every basic part or component that needs to be replaced like capacitor/resistor, the cost would be 200 pesos per part. However, in case they need to replace expensive part and the final bill would exceed 2,000 pesos then they would contact us first to ask for our approval. The agreement was fair enough for me so she proceeded with laptop acceptance procedure.

She confidently removed the HDD / RAM and DVD writer. She then wrote all the specifications and serial numbers of those components on the receipt while she asked me to sign on each and every one of them including the motherboard and monitor using a permanent marker. I was astonished first but as technical person I knew that it was done so as to assure their client that the working original parts would not be replaced without our knowledge.

After several hours, we received a text message asking for the laptop's password; we immediately replied. The laptop is now running; I told my wife. Otherwise they won't know it is password protected.

The next day, we asked whether we could take the laptop since it was already working. They refused to release the laptop until they were sure that it would pass the burn-in test. After 2 days, we received another text message informing us that our laptop was ready for pick-up.

Sunday came, with family in tow and before watching Jack, The Giant Slayer movie, we proceeded to SST laptop repair shop. My daughter checked her laptop thoroughly; it was working perfectly according to her. I checked also the hardware profile and found that everything was the same as before. Once we were satisfied, the lady powered off the laptop and showed to me one by one the laptop's different components. All my initials were intact and serial numbers were the same. After that, final test was done by my daughter before we signed the claimed receipt.

I paid 1,500 pesos since they didn't replace any part. The technician simply reset the power IC and cleaned the affected area to prevent water scaling. At any case, I was elated that the final bill was minimal.

By the way, one month warranty was given by the shop for the dead-set problem. Other problems that may arise related to water spillage will not be covered by warranty.

According to SST shop technician, in case of water or fluid intrusion to any laptop, the following things should be done immediately to prevent further damage to motherboard layout.

- Do not power on.
- Remove the battery.
- Bring the laptop to a reputable repair shop so as to prevent further damage to motherboard.

I remember what happened to my Toshiba laptop after typhoon Ondoy submerged our old house, I cleaned it myself and due to some more pressing needs I was not able to bring it to any repair shop immediately. I got the time to bring it to a repair shop after a month and sad to say, it was beyond economical repair.


Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.