Read: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel

Phew, that was a mouthful of a book title.

I forgot how I came across this book online. The title, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, was interesting enough for me to request the library to send a copy to my nearest library.

It was S$1.55 reservation fee and took about one month’s wait for it to reach me because there are only 2 copies in the library. (In contrast to The Hunger Games which I was #27 and received it in a week.)

https://twitter.com/#!/yqtravelling/status/170382163643072513

I finished the book in a day and didn’t feel that satisfied. Maybe it’s because I’ve already made up my mind about long-term travel so his persuasions did not move me much.

I guess another problem with printed copies of books is that I can’t “click” on the links in the book for follow up reading.

There are plenty of offline and online reading recommendation–a bit too much–scattered in the book, which can be useful but not really what I want to see in a book.

What’s cool about the book is its companion Web site: www.vagabonding.net, especially the blog, which I feel is a lot more useful than the book itself.

I’d recommend getting this from the library or just read the blog for all you need to know.

Other more interesting travel materials I’ve read:

Visited: Mint Toy Museum, Singapore

I had the chance to visit the Mint Museum of Toys courtesy of a Groupon which made the entrance fee slightly less than half price.

The museum is located right opposite the Raffles Hotel, there’s a sign pointing to it right where the street begins. It’s not that difficult to find since the sign is pretty big.

The place has five floors–entrance on first floor with four exhibition levels. The levels are themed and you start from the top floor: Outerspace, Characters, Childhood favorites and Collectibles.

The floor space is really cramped and half the time I have to wait for someone and their date to finish staring/photgraphing/commenting on the exhibitions before I could politely look at the stuff.
Continue reading “Visited: Mint Toy Museum, Singapore” →

Read: The Great Railway Bazaar

I was introduced to Paul Theroux’s by a travel writer on Twitter. The tweet wasn’t directed at me and I’m not even too sure who it was.

The tweet made Paul Theroux sound like The Best Travel Writer in the World™. I then decided to check out The Great Railway Bazaar from the library.

Synopsis: Writer takes train after train after train from London all the way to Japan (with some flights in between), passing by Europe, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and back through Russia.
Continue reading “Read: The Great Railway Bazaar” →

Read: Round the world with NT$100,000

rtwwithnt100000 — Great book: Round the World with NT$100,000

This was the book that inspired my round-the-world trip dreams. By inspired, I mean “to really make plans” instead of just jotting it down in my mental bucket list. I actually borrowed it twice from the library.

Long story short, Taiwanese indie traveller 943 shares how she went on a RTW in 80 days by only spending slightly more than NT$100,000 (US$3,340). She used point-to-point flights instead of a RTW ticket.

She flew from Taipei to Singapore to Europe (overnight at Bahrain) where she hopped around a bit. Then she flew to the US then to Central and South America where she took long distance buses. She then flew back to US where she flew home to Taipei.

I think it’s absoluteley brilliant that anyone can do a RTW with less than US$10,000! Speaking of which, here are a few examples of how much other people spent on a RTW.

From what I’ve read, she mostly saves money on lodging (which is a killer!) by bunking with Couchsurfers. She also does her research to make sure that she’s using the cheapest transportation. It’s chock full of indie travel gems if you read Chinese. Besides being full of tips, her book is quite humorous. I laughed at many parts.

During her Central and South America trip, she deliberately not learn Spanish beyond numbers 1 to 10 and the word for toilet (baño–pronounced ban-nyo, if you are interested). Instead, she experimenting if she could get by with body language. Apparently, it worked.

Other travel related tips that I really like from her book are her sample Word and Excel files for pre-trip flight/accomodation/transport comparison, during-trip schedule. I’ll be testing out both tips for my trip to Yogyakarta in April and share how that tip helps me.

I’d totally buy this book if I see it on offer. Yes, I am that cheapskate.

Hotel review: Riverview Hotel, Muar, Johor

Went to Muar during the Christmas weekend without making any hotel bookings (nor bus ticket bookings). I’ve only skimmed through the first page of Google Search and found this place’s Web site. It looked nice enough but I didn’t jot down the address.

We reached Muar around 8pm, and it was raining. Good thing the hotel sign is high up the building because we saw it while our bus drove pass.

The hotel is just a less than 10 minute walk away from the bus terminal, thank goodness.

I think our room was the last one in the hotel that night because the concierge told someone on the phone that there is no more room available.

Our room had a queen-sized bed, bathroom with hot shower, TV and plastic kettle. It was RM85 per night, the walk-in rate, I suppose.

Extra pillows for watching TV.

When we got into the room, there was a puddle near the curtains. It seems that rain seeped through the windows.

We called room service and a man came in to mop and put a towel at the bottom of the window to keep water from coming in.

D thought the bathroom smelled of urine so she washed it up. I guess most bathroom smell of urine from people peeing in the shower.

Something funny about the hotel is that it has ads for a particular chicken processed food.

Our keycard

Best chicken

The stay was nice, we extended an extra night. The bed was so comfortable that I sang and talked in my sleep, it seems. haha

Internet: There is Wi-Fi in the room, remember to ask for the code from the concierge.

Another good thing about this place is that it is next to a dimsum coffee shop (breakfast!) and a Chinese food court (dinner, supper!). You know how much I love my food.

I would return here again, just because it is near the bus terminal. (But then there’s a Hotel D’99 also near the terminal. Maybe I’ll check that place out next time.)

Website: http://www.riverviewhotel.com.my/index.php?page=aboutus.php

Location: 29 Jalan Bentayan, Muar 84000, Malaysia
Price: RM85 per night
Pros: Cheap. comfy beds, strategic location.
Cons: Smelly bathroom, wet floor–which were all fixed

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Stayed: Capsule Ryokan Kyoto

My mom and I stayed at Capsule Ryokan Kyoto for 7 nights during our 10-day trip to Japan in late-October.

This is my second time in Kyoto, during the last trip, my friends and I stayed at a hostel where the sheets smelled like the last occupant. I decided to switch accomodation this time.

After trusting my guts, I booked the Ryokan Ensuite at Capsule Ryokan Kyoto. The room includes two futon, a fancy space shower and a toilet cubicle right next to the entrance. It is really amazing how they manage to save space.

Mom and I stuffed our luggage under our bed. We kept the futon rolled up when not sleeping to watch TV, do book keeping, eat rice balls.

We reached Kyoto at 6am as we came on a night bus. The hotel officially opens at 10am so we hung around the station. While it opens at 10am, we could only shift in at 3pm so we kept our luggage and went off.

The lady at the counter spoke perfect English, in case anyone is worried.

Nishi Honwanji (西本願寺) is just around the corner of the ryokan so that makes it a great first place to go.

Price
7,980yen per night for two persons. Not a bad price for Kyoto.

Location
The ryokan is indeed within walking distance to Kyoto Station but I would rather take the bus. If you bought the 500yen Kyoto bus pass, take the buses that stop at Shichi-jo-Horikawa (七条堀川), the ryokan is just nearby.

The location is good for sightseeing sites and there’s a direct bus to Gion area.

Internet
Internet connection is one of the most important criteria for me when choosing a hotel. This place does have Internet, but Wi-Fi connection is limited to the ground floor. Inside our room, we have a LAN socket (they have LAN cables).

While I brought a netbook, there are things that felt better on the phone. During the nights when I update Facebook/mobile blog/check my horoscope on my iPhone, there was a family of what I guess are Brazilian-Japanese folks having dinner, being merry. I’m not the sort to mingle quickly with people so I kept to myself all the time.

Laundry
There is also some washing machines and one dryer at the fire escape landing. If all machines are full, there is a self-service launderette opposite the ryokan which charges a few hundred yen more.

If I go back to Kyoto, I would like to stay there again. But since the New York Times covered it, I seriously doubt whether I can get a room.

Read: Eat, Pray, Love

I admit. I was one of the nasty people who scoffed at the premise of Eat, Pray, Love when I first heard about it.

What? Rich lady travels the world to eat, pray and love? I immediately filed it under Stuff Other People Read, right next to Twilight.

Guess what, I read Twilight last month and I just finished Eat, Pray, Love (one hour ago, to be exact).

First off, I should have never put Eat, Pray, Love next to Twilight in my mind. Twilight needs to be thrown in a fire, along with the movie franchise and shirtless boys. Continue reading “Read: Eat, Pray, Love” →

Good series to prepare for Japan

<Eibun Nihon etoki jiten> publisher: Japan Travel Bureau

The series of book above are illustrated books about Japan. There are available in Sabah libraries and I found them in the school library last week.

They are easy to read and the illustrations help with the reading. They are very informative.

If you want to know more about Japan, this series is a good start!

adding to Must Do in Japan:
Visit Shinto shrine

Ten Nights of Dreams

Weird coincidences led me to 2006 movie Ten Nights of Dreams
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0899224/

The original story is by Natsume Soseki. I first read the translations of Ten Nights of Dream in year 1 when I took Introduction to Japanese Studies. It comprises of ten different stories, all of them bizarre and I have yet to solve them.

Ok, the reason I’m watching the movie is because of Kenichi Matsuyama. I was watching another drama and found him very cute! (I have a limited vocabulary when it comes to describing guys) Then I found out he’s L from the Death Note movies. Wow, such a long time since I’ve been catching up with my J-entertainment news.

Anyway, the library has a recording of Ten Nights of Dreams. I might borrow it one day to brush up my Japanese.

Currently in Japanese drama mood.