Pink Chopsticks

Republic of Singapore Yacht Club (RSYC), considered the oldest Asia yacht club just recently announced their grand expansion plans to the tune of S$9 Million! The expansion aims to triple the club’s berthing capacity from 100 boats to 300 boats, it’ll also double the number of accommodation suites plus additional facilities.

The project is slated to start by the first quarter of 2011 and is expected to be complete by 2012. There’s no mention of the architect firm who got this but here’s the artists perspective of the project.

Luxurious and stunning, right? Makes me wish I have my own yacht hahaha. I know I’m a little delusional..Now, I’m off to search for canon ink cartridges, which I’m pretty sure I could well afford than a yacht.

Via Luxury-Insider, RSYC

There’s one place I wanna visit – China! It’s huge, the culture is interesting, the places… wow! There are lots to go to.  From where I’m currently based, its quite easy to travel to China, I could even do it overland. But the problem is that I can’t be issued a visa here and I still have to go back home to my home country to process a visa. Which is such as hassle. But this place will be on my list for sure.

For now I’ve been reading blogs, wikitravel, travel forums and checking out YouTube for travel videos to China..take this for instance…

Also, I’ve been interested in knowing the cultural do’s and don’ts when visiting the place, and found this video simple yet very helpful..

When visiting a foreign country it is foremost that one do some research and find out about the culture of the place. What are the things that are considered acceptable and proper and what actions are considered rude or vulgar. Oftentimes, before I visit a place, I make sure I do a bit of research in terms of culture, and I even buy myself culture and travel books just so I could get acquainted with each culture.

Getting at least some knowledge beforehand would greatly enhance you travel experience and would save you from potentially embarrassing situations.

I’ve doing some reading and research and have decided to share. This would be a series of posts on how to have proper etiquette in Asian countries. We start of with Japan:

There might be an exception to these rules and its also worth observing what others are doing and to follow the example of your hosts.

• When you enter a Japanese home, be sure to take off your shoes at the door. It would be considered rude to do otherwise. Most hosts would provided a slipper but if they don’t remember to wear clean socks. Some restaurants may also have this practice particularly those restaurants where you sit down on the floor.

I love Japan!!! They always come up with the coolest, weirdest, unique stuff. Its on the top list of must-travel to countries. And I seriously wanna check this out…

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgjr63

A taxi filled with cats! Yes, cats. Though not real ones. Hahaha. Mr. Hiraga’s ‘cat mobile’ can be seen around Wakayama City. I have to make sure this city is in my itinerary if I ever visit Japan.

Hiraga started his cat collection 12 years ago with a single lucky cat decoration he bought from Kimii-dera temple. He thought the one cat looked kind of lonely, so he soon bought it a friend. His taxi now is filled with 888 lucky cats:

Pure awesomeness. But I wonder, does the taxi still have room for luggages? Lol! And I suppose this taxi should not go near any bird baths. I’m pretty sure its gonna scare off the birds.

Via JapanProbe

I first discovered the yummy allure of black tea jelly on a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia years ago. Since then, every time I step on a Chinatown or anywhere with a Chinese community, I look for black tea jelly shops.

Eating this is almost an artform for me much like tea drinking ceremonies for the Japanese, Chinese and the Koreans. The chilled black jelly itself is a bit bitter but a syrup is served separately so you can flavor up your jelly depending on your tastes.

I like eating it slow and savoring each spoonful. I just love the texture and the sweet-bitter taste. Tea is known to have good health benefits and its good to know that there is something that I can enjoy eating while getting a lot of nutrients from. Some also reckon that tea has good slimming properties so hahaha I would prefer this to safe diet pills.

When we moved to Cambodia, I also found black tea jelly being sold in markets here. Though its not bitter as the ones I found in Chinese shops, it still tastes really good. Just chill it, add vanilla and a little sugar the enjoy!

Cool! For someone like me who’s a geek and can’t like without internet connection then this is way beyond cool! This is making me want to high tail it to Japan more. You know, Japan has been on my ‘to travel’ list for a long time already.

Anyway, back to topic. Docomo Japanhas partnered with taxi operators to equip 820 taxi units with onboard free Wifi for passengers! And get this, that goodies doesn’t end there – 100 of them will even have a PSP Go for customers to play with!! Yay! For gamers! Now I wouldn’t mind taking a long taxi ride if I get entertained like that.

This service is currently still being tested and is scheduled to be rolled out in March 2011. And that is not a very long wait, folks! Hmm, I’m envious, haha!

Don’t I just wish our car has this too? Lol! Maybe cheap car insurance wouldn’t do for that. And while I’m on the topic of Japan, this actually spurned me into searching travel Japan photos and I’m really really wanting to travel to this place.

Here’s a video of Japan Travel I found on YouTube. It’s just enough to wet my ‘travel to Japan’ appetite.

I want this. Seriously! I’m a compulsive note taker. I have notebooks, journals, scrap pads, netbook and I even put notes on my mobile phone. Having notes on different places sometimes leaves me so confused and disorganized. And this is a bad thing. I can imagine my hair falling off prematurely coz of too much ‘organizing’ stress.

King Jim’s Pomera series compact note taking device with a full size Keyboard and has now released a Mobile Gundam Special edition of their DM10G, named the DM11G. It looks super cool and functional!

And to add more market allure, well King Jim is releasing the DM11G in three different styles! DM11G comes with a 4” (640×480) Screen, 89MB of internal memory, a SDHC Slot,and runs on AAA batteries and weighs 340 g. Priced at 30,000 Yen, the Pomera DM11G is expected to be out in Japan mid December.

I find the designs too anime-ish and masculine but still its beyond cool. I think I know what to wish for this Chistmas, I wish they had it in Pink! At least with this, I won’t be wishing for the best hair loss products, right? Though, I ahve to wing learning Japanese first lol!

Via AkibaharaNews

I have yet to visit Ipoh, Malaysia but I’ve been itching to do so for the last year or so. My primary reason for wanting so? Their famous Ipoh White Coffee! I’ve heard lots of yummy feedback from people who have tried this and being coffee-addicted myself, I really wanna give it a try..

I was browsing the net and searching for travel information on Ipoh Malaysia and I came across Explore Ipoh website and I was interested in their feature on their white coffee..

What makes Ipoh White Coffee different? It’s all in the roasting process!

white coffee is roasted from 100% coffee bean with only margarine. As a result, it shows a lighter color and thus getting its famous name.

Hmm, I wonder if I ever get to visit the place, could I buy perhaps a box of roasted white coffee? I sure would like to bring home a lot coz it sounds really delicious. I’ve better get ready my box cutter, just in case lol!

In case you are wondering why I want to visit this place, well its not just because of the coffee its also known as the ‘Hill City’ so I expect dramatic vistas and tranquil scenery, its also because unlike those super touristy places, its not crowded, everything looks serene and you can get a taste of what is really the Ipoh culture sans the tourist money traps..

The place of course has plenty of quaint but interesting tourist attractions, just check out Ipoh’s Tourist Attractions page and you’ll see what I mean. Also, check out this Ipoh White Coffee dedicated website for more about this aromatic coffee.

Image via Explore Ipoh