Taiwan - Day 1

school semester has come to an end.......
& let's welcome the start of freakin' holiday~~
COZ TAIWAN AWAITS MY ARRIVAL!!!

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Myth: you cant sleep comfortably on a budget flight

Test: on the night before our flight, I was at TienBoon house;
played GranTurismo5 & BattleField3 all night to exhaust ourselves
hoping that we can sleep throughout on the flight to Taiwan.

Conclusion: you really cant sleep comfortably on a budget flight
we were changing our sleeping posture every 15 mins;
resting on the headrest, fold-able dining table, our fist as support
madness.


enjoy the moment as the dawn is breaking

the seat with the tiny window

one of my goals is to work on board of these airplanes =)

for now, I will just have to fly with JetStar

part of Singapore that we will hardly see

touched down & took a bus to Taipei Main Station

Taipei Main Station - the zone we're staying for 10 whole days~

Starbucks is slightly different too
ham&cheese croissant + cookies&cream mocha

<time to check in MIYI Hotel>


Welcome to our humble little room
big enough for 2 & has everything we need

A big toilet with bathtub!!


anyway, we dropped our luggage & headed out to XiMenDing
every corner I turned, there were shops on the ground floor
bakeries, bubble tea shops, cafes, 7-11, restaurants
however, I find XiMenDing much like BugisStreet
& there was nothing that interests me

Next stop,
LeHuaNightMarket
this is a nightmarket for the locals, so not crowded at all

I wanted to try the snacks rather than main course
coz there's only that much space in my tummy 
& I need to stuff as much good food as possible


Black Wild Boar Taiwan Sausage with garlic sauce

some sashimi love~
I'm impressed for a restaurant in the night market

freshly made mochi
green tea, sesame, peanut

thats all for the first day in Taiwan,
call it in early for a good night rest!!

Canon 650D - awesome DSLR to accompany my journey

Since I'm going Taiwan, I've been thinking
"what is a trip without a camera to capture those memories?"
since I've always been interested in cameras, it was time to buy one~
problem is what am I gona buy & alot  of stuff going through my head.

Q: why not get a compact camera??
A: smartphones' cameras are actually catching up
I'll sacrifice picture clarity for easy sharing on instagram

MicroFourThirds or DSLR
in the first place, I was leaning towards MicroFourThirds
but soon enough..... I was bought over by DSLR

DSLR Pros
bigger camera sensor
inbuilt flash
comfortable grip
all buttons at the reach of my fingers

DSLR Cons
clunky & heavy
easily spotted by subjects & gets avoided

IMO, I feel that so long you can get used to the weight,
DSLR should be the logical choice no matter what.
MicroFourThirds is a fashion statement & significantly lighter.
weight is quite important as camera feels heavy with a zoom lens
thus, MicroFourThirds can be seen as the exact opposite of DSLR

time for some random test shots I took on the day of getting my new toy
I totally dont know how to use the camera, a total amateur,
but I'm still amazed with what I can do with a DSLR

prep-ing for TAIWAN before exams

Q: how did Taiwan happen??

right after I bought my HTC One,
there was a Jetstar promotion
return flight to Taiwan - $314 per pax 
*after much persuasion from TienBoon*
I'm going to 10-days TAIWAN trip~~

we decided to book hotels after our 1st exam paper,
but all the hotels were almost fully booked!!!
desperate mode ON: affordable hotel with prime location
& our best option slipped through our fingers, Damn it!!!
in the end, we relied on the reviews & paid slightly more for a better hotel
coz we need to be well recharged to be able to enjoy our trip more

Hotel settled, next daily itinerary!!
I'm so thankful that TienBoon is familiar with Taiwan
we are simply revisiting the places he been previously
some days gona meet his Taiwanese friend, Joe
some days gona meet our uni-classmate, NengYi
that's it, the gist of the plan, no plan!!!

slogged like a zombie through exam period
started on the first day & ended on the last day
What a long battle~~!!!

just when I thought I can finally slack after exam,
I have 1 whole week to pack my luggage before my adventure starts.
I've never been on such a long trip & I was stressed out what to pack
coz it seems too little stuff to bring for a 10-days trip!?!?

Oh well, so be it~
I don't wana care anymore~~
I'm ready to buy anything I missed out~~~


PS: if you ask me again to plan a holiday right before exams,
I will reply you, "NOOO~~ NOT AGAIN~~~"
students should always say, "STUDIES FIRST~~"

HTC One M7 review - one of the smartest phone this season yet!!!



Just a little background story before we get into review....

I had my eyes on HTC One since long long time ago like January~~
then, there was a constant discussion about phones with TienBoon!!
Options: Blackberry Q10 / Z10, HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4
final decision from both of us???
undoubtedly..... still HTC One!!!!
gona get our hands on it the moment it comes to Singapore
coz previously it was facing stock issues due to its ultrapixel shortages.




On top of that, I was thinking that I should concentrate on my studies
coz April would've been the month of study break before my exam hits me 
& there wasn't any room for distractions until everything ends!!!




However, I had to put HTC One ahead of schedule
after seeing TienBoon  picked HTC One outta the squarish box
In a way, I influenced him to make his purchase & he in turn influenced me back~~

Okay let's get back down to Objectives.... 
I've been using HTC One for about 3 months & I love it!!!
There is definitely amazing smartphones coming from all brands out there,
but 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'~~
IMO, none with the build quality that comes close to comparison
& that's what HTC One bought me over without any doubts =)





Pros of HTC One
1) Superb build quality: no-gap full metal aluminum body which all apple-fans love
2) Ultrapixel camera: captures amazing photos under low lighting conditions
    & optical image stabilizer prevents blurry photos in all situations
3) Beats Audio: gives the extra oomph to make music sound even better
4) 1080p display on 4.7 inch screen with Boomsound:
sometimes I just wana watch some videos I downloaded on my phone
& I have 1 of the crispiest screen on phone that can play bluray movies.
+ natural sounding loudspeaker from its dual frontal speakers like how its meant to be
coz I'm infront of the screen & dislikes phones with loudspeakers blasting to the back
5) Battery that easily last me through the day without too much gaming
If you play games or checks on (facebook + twitter + whatsapp) almost every min,
go get yourself a portable battery or this phone is not for you as you cant replace battery

6) software:
blinkfeed - gives (facebook + twitter + news) updates on the home screen
Zoe - automatically creates 30-seconds highlight video from all the (photos + videos)
camera editing functions to beautify photos (if you love to edit photos on ur phone)
7) No home button - goes in line with google's vision of android

Cons of HTC One
1) too little Cons
2) power button might be a bit awkward too high at the top
3) too thin that it might slip out of your hands (a case will settle the problem)
However, I prefer my gadgets to be without case as its primitive form is beauty
4) it takes about 3 - 4 hours to fully charge phone if phone is below 20%,
but it keeps the battery healthy without fast charge & discharge

Of course, there is alot more features of every phone,
but there is no need to consider features that I'm not using.
IMO, HTC One may not be the smartest phone in the market,
but it is the smartest phone for me by its raw potential without gimmicks
& it comes at a lower price as compared to other flagship smartphones out there
which is the game changer as long as my wallet is willing to fork out that dollar bill

CYA in JUNE 2013.

hello everyone!!!!

it has been almost 2 months since I blogged
coz I was busy w my study break to prep my exams~~
my exams are scheduled to start on 1st day of exam period
& end on the last day of exam period...

many people envy such a schedule as we have more time to study,
but they have to put 2 memory-intensive papers back to back on the last 2 days..
PS: it wasnt that easy to be memorizing 2 books within 48 hours time frame =(

all in all, it was a long battle & we wont know what happens until 31st May....
so I shall go on my 10-days Taiwan trip!!!!!
blog again when I come back =D
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