Marina Bay Sands, Singapore……my personal experience…

Amazing architechture

The amazing architechture of Marina Bay Sands Casino Resort

I had the opportunity to visit and experience the most famous landmark in Singapore…the Marina Bay Sands

I have to say….the building is very impressive!! 3 tower blocks with a curved ship like structure connecting the top of the towers on the 57^th floor….obviously the view of Singapore downtown is amazing!!

My Zayn Al Rashid posing

It’s a Casino Resort with attached high end shopping and also a convention centre. It is basically currently the pride and joy of Singapore…but….they can say what they want through good and expensive marketing….its the experience of its customers is what really matters…. Just like this WanLanun’s comment in TripAdvisor

http://www.tripadvisor.com.my/ShowUserReviews-g294265-d1770798-r128153919-Marina_Bay_Sands-Singapore.html

OK..its me…its true, I was not impressed by MBS except for a few things… The building architechture, The Pool View and …. That’s about it!!

Everybody has got to take a picture posing like this....Its a must!!

It’s a high end destination, they don’t even have those T-shirts that say “My parents just got back from Marina bay Sands and all I got was this lousy T-shirt”

Dang!! Trying hard to give them credit….but that’s about it….My assessment is based on the price of the room, the rating of the hotel and also in comparison to the other hotels I have experienced within the same fraternity. For this I have compared MBS with the Casino Resort hotels I have been to around the world from Genting Highlands, Macau, Las Vegas to Phnom Penh…

The SkyDeck

I was there because I had my Board Meeting at the Convention Centre across. The shopping was great…window shopping that is…much too expensive for someone who does not own an airline like me..I can’t even afford another credit card!! You know its expensive here when u cannot get a decent bowl of Tau Foo Far !! and we’re in Singapore!! the Casino? I cannot comment cause I did not have the time to visit, plus I was told they don’t have those ‘one arm bandits’ that take 20 cents coin!!

By night from the pool

Shopping

But for the hotel? The lobby was too simple, as like many casino resorts, they want to move people as fast as possible which means many would be waiting for their fathers/mothers to check in...and NO SEATING AREA....if you have kids like I do...you're screwed. Check-in was strictly 3pm....if you're nosy enough...you may get your room after 2pm....They expect you to roam through the exclusive shopping area. Fortunately they take your luggage and will keep it until 3pm or whenever your room is ready… which was a plus.

Lobby Reception...can do much better...

Breakfast was SGD30++ per person.....not recommended, how much would you pay for toast? If you’re on business and meetings, you’ve got to start breakfast at 6am to really enjoy it…

Room was small for the price paid...and we paid a lot…

Depending on timing and season this room goes from SGD280++ to nearly SGD500++ per night...5 Star??? Hmmmm....u tell me...

The rate was equivalent to a suite at the Mandarin Oriental KL or a room at the The Plaza, New York....but then again Singapore hotel rates are the highest in South East Asia anyway...

No kids centre, as guests u get to go to the viewing deck for free and use the pool. The pool was amazing ....let me say this agaim….THE POOL WAS AMAZING !! But everybody seems to be here for the pool , so not enough deck chairs....The jacuzzi was only for 16 and above.... so I can't get in with my 10 year old daughter...No newspaper in the morning....the mini bar is triggered, if you move an item, its automatically charged, No space even for your own stuff....I have a 2 year old son...not even space for his milk...room wifi is free which is good but ventilation of the wc is very bad...Yes its not meant for a family hotel it seems but I do have business to attend to and I don't think they welcome children.....

The Al Rashid Clan....

My opinion?? Its just the hype of marketing....unless you are really into the amazing infinity pool facing the city...which you must try once…and once is all you need..

So is it a Let’s Jom???? ..Hmmmm….naaaahhhhh…not ths time…

The World's Rudest Nations for Travelers

Quasimodo and Esmeralda posing by the famous Notre Dame in Paris....I just love Esmeralda's red jeans!! Don't you???

This article was taken from FORBES Magazine!!...read on….

Do you agree?? MY COMMENTS IS AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE….

 

 http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/the-world-s-rudest-nations-for-travelers.html

Congratulations, my fellow Americans! We’re not the rudest nation on the planet. We’re not even in the top five. USA! USA!

The travel search site Skyscanner.com surveyed its users about where the locals never smile and people are particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest locals was…

Wait for it…

France (félicitations, mes amis!), followed by Russia. The survey received over 1,200 responses, 65 percent from the UK and Ireland, plus elsewhere in Europe, North America and Australia.

The World's Rudest Nations for Travelers

1. France
2. Russian
3. British
4. German
5. Other

Rounding out the top five rudest countries were the U.K., Germany and “Other” (those Others are the worst, don’t you think?). The U.S. placed 7th, behind China.

Some of the perceived rudeness may be attributable to cultural differences rather than anything intentional. For example, says Tatiana Danilova, Skyscanner’s Russian Market Manager, “the Russian language is not as polite as English, so when Russians translate directly from Russian to English, it can sound rude to an English speaker even if they don’t mean it to.”

“We were surprised to see Russians come in second place,” says Skyscanner’s Travel Editor, Sam Baldwin. He attributes this in part to the “familiarity breeds contempt” phenomenon. Although Russia doesn’t compare with the Mediterranean as a tourist destination, as visa regulations have relaxed, Russian holidaymakers are increasingly flocking to the Mediterranean and coming into contact with people from other countries.

The same principle may apply to the French: “As our closest neighbors, there has long been a familiar rivalry between the U.K. and France,” Baldwin says, and the preponderance of responses from the British Isles may have contributed to this result. Still, Baldwin says, “Even the French acknowledge that the way they are perceived is not entirely without basis.” (In France’s defense, I’ve always found Parisians to be just as rude to each other as they are to foreigners. Outside of Paris – and even within the city – people can be as gracious as anywhere.)

The British, for their part, voted themselves “world’s worst tourists” in a previous Skyscanner survey.

The countries rated as having the least rude locals were Brazil, the Caribbean and the Philippines.

Skyscanner claims to be Europe’s leading travel search site, operating in over 25 languages with more than 25 million visits and over 11 million unique visitors per month. It has offices in Edinburgh, Scotland and Singapore.

Here’s the complete list of responses:

Nationality       Percentage of votes

French                   19.29
Russian                  16.56
British                    10.43
German                 9.93
Other                    6.37
Chinese                4.30
American               3.39
Spanish                 3.15
Italian                    2.24
Polish                    2.24
Turkish                  2.15
Indian                  1.90
Swiss                    1.90
Greek                    1.74
Croatian                1.57
Austrian                 1.41
Cypriot                  1.24
Egyptian                1.24
Korean                 1.24
Norwegian             0.99
Australian              0.91
Dutch                   0.83
Irish                       0.83
Swedish                 0.83
Japanese             0.66
Danish                   0.50
Canadian               0.41
New Zealander       0.41
Indonesian           0.41
Portuguese           0.33
Thai                      0.25
Filipino                  0.17
Caribbean              0.08
Brazilian                0.08

Comment from WanLanun of Travel Slippers:

Do you agree?? What baloney!!!

Just don’t believe everything you read…as I said before…bad media reporting is as bad as media terrorism!!

Survey was conducted by The travel search site Skyscanner.com surveyed its users about where the locals never smile and people are particularly unfriendly, and the nation with the most votes for rudest locals was… Have you heard of this Skyscanner.com??? Not me…

I believe only those with bad experience and have the time to complain are getting their frustrations highlighted here….may not be true at all..unfortunately…

Even Forbes is doing this sort of cheap journalism…

I’ve highlighted the countries from Asia in red… It says CHINESE are the 6^th rudest???? CHINESE??? From which country? Such a loose cannon….Can this be Hong Kong? Singapore? Malaysia? Same goes to Indian…and what is OTHER???

My opinion is :When someone from a host nation is rude, it is usually when the guest is ignorant of cultures and taboo, rude themselves, expect that their money is King….. People of the world are in majority very pleasant…

Where and when do tourist get the rude treatment? This is mostly relevant in Asia…just as example..

1. Wearing a thin blouse/T-shirt/ singlet without a bra in a Muslim country is rude…. So is wearing shorts that’s just too short
2. Swimming in a bikini/topless on a public beach is rude in most public beaches of Asia (Public beaches used by locals)
3. No behaving sensibly aka slightly tipsy, loud, drinking alchohol in public areas
4. Do not respect culture and taboo…aka shoes off indoors, cover your head in holy places of worship, touching someone’s head
5. Instead of speaking slowly in their own mother tongue, they also speak LOUD and slowly…this is rude and condescending.

This is really rude..."If common sense is so common, why are there millions of idiots in this world??"

The funny thing is that this survey result shows that the Europeans are saying they themselves are rude to fellow Europeans !! Well, that may be very true….when I was lost in Paris and wanted to ask for some directions, I asked in Malay and Japanese….asking in English will only get you a cold shoulder treatment!! Glad to be an Asian!!  

By the way...I have never been rude to anyone...ever.....I just wasn't taught to politely pretend to be nice to people I can't stand...that's all...

So....wanna be treated badly at one of the most romantic and beautiful city on earth?? Let's Jom!! Paris...

Best Nasi Kandar in Penang …. And the winner is…

For any Malaysian…Food is Life…We Eat To Live….not Live to Eat…

Some food was thought to be good for you especially your libido until recently,  scientists have recently discovered a particular food that diminishes sex drive by 95% - it's called Wedding Cake…

This trip to Penang, we wanted to be healthy, we promised ourselves that we should also exercise every day here… with this battle of Nasi Kandar going on, I’ve devised a daily workout regime…it’s a 15 minute upper body workout and it’s pretty easy:

Arm down, pick up food, arm up, put food in mouth, arm down..work those jaw muscles!!! pick-up food….....

After months of surfing the net, googling and trying to narrow down the best nasi kandar in Penang, we finally came to the conclusion that the 2 best on the island is either Nasi Kandar Line Clear or Nasi Kandar Beratur.

OK, did my survey, ate the same standard Nasi Kandar from both places. Nasi Kandar + Bendi + Ayam Goreng + Sotong + Kuah Campur ..... 3 Panel judges, me, my lovely wife and my brother BEAR who happens to be an ex-Chef from Le Meridien and Ritz Carlton both in Dubai.

Nasi Kandar Line Clear is located at the meeting point of Lebuh Chulia and Penang Road. Started way back in 1947, Line Clear Nasi Kandar is one of the oldest nasi kandar outlet in Penang. Its not actually a shop but just under a makeshift roof by an alley that was used to be known as 'Lorong Taik' !!! Yucks!! It is open 24 hours and is busy 24 hours.

They have a large variety of dishes. But alamak!! they sure look really tempting. They have all sorts of curry dishes, a few variety of vegetable including something-you-find-in-all-nasi-kandar-shops bendi (lady's finger aka Okra), friend chicken (which looks delicioso scrumptious), sotong (squid aka Calamari) , omelette, and lots of others. What kuah (gravy) to put on the rice at the end of it? Of course campur (mix) lah! Make sure they banjir (flood) it…”Mamak!!! Kasi Banjir!!!”....these days its not Banjir!! ...."Mamak!! Kasi Tsunami!!!"

Have you heard this before… “If you see a long waiting line or a crowded eatery, you can be assured of the best food.” Well….seeing is believing

Nasi Kandar Beratur is located right next to the famous Masjid Kapitan Kling. Beratur means 'To Queue'. The main business starts at 10pm and according to 'hardcore' fans, the best is only if you eat after 2am!!! Bloody hell!! Nasi Kandar after 2am!!! Apa gila orang Penang nih!! 

BEAR is the fella in front of the guy in the Boria outfit aka red top and white jeans, this was around 0130 hrs!!

Day...empty, you can't miss it...see the dome? That's Masjid Kapitan Kling

Whilst queing up, BEAR heard this lady asking her husband…” ‎"Does this dress make me look fat?" "No-lah” he said….”The fat makes you look fat." Girl said "I'm not fat, I'm big boned" Errmmmm OK…If I was there my response would be "Since when do bones jiggle?"…Muhahahaaa What does she expect? Q’ing up at 2am for Nasi Kandar!!


And after piling ourselves with a gazillion calories and shorten our lives by about 48 months, we have unanimously picked a winner.......& the winner is  

.............. LINE CLEAR !!!!

 

p.s. 1 advice... if you think you can't stand eating at a 'not so clean' place.... I have 1 word for you... TAPAU!!!!

Lama tak pekena Nasi Kandaq???

Let’s Jom !!!

What is a Terrorist.... USMan kills 7, wounds 3 at small Christian college

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) April 3rd 2012— A 43-year-old former student of a small Christian university in California opened fire at the school, killing at least seven people and setting off an intense, chaotic manhunt that ended with his capture at a nearby shopping center

I read this news article and would like to highlight these words......

Christian, opened fire, killing, intense, chaotic, manhunt capture, shooting, wounded, weapon rampage, motive, gunfire fatalities, died wounded victims tragedy shocking senseless, armed swarmed gunman, point-blank, shooting randomly, bloodied victims ambulances. U.S. Army, God protects me. I'm not afraid of him, acting suspiciously; He didn't look like he had a sign of relief on him. He didn't look like he had much of any emotion on his face……

Somehow the word TERRORIST was not mentioned, not even once....he was terrorizing people don't you think? 

Maybe its because of the first word highlighted? 

Just imagine if the crazy dude was a Muslim? 

that differentiates between a normal criminal and a Terrorist? 

I have no problems with any religion...but I do have a problem with the misrepresentation and double standard of the of the world's media...

The worst killer of the tourism industry is actually bad media reporting...its 100 times easier to kill a destination than to build up the reputation of a destination through reporting.

And before somebody make any comments about religion....this is not about religion...its about the crooked media!!! 

 Let's Jom use our brain and don't judge or label others!!!  

http://news.yahoo.com/cops-id-college-shooting-suspect-one-goh-43-012337396.html

 

Macau...Vegas of the East

Arriving into Macau on the TurboJet Hydrofoil in just 45 minutes and took a cab to StarWorld Galaxy Hotel and Casino. Such a beautiful hotel, brand new and full of stars!! Plus our room was overlooking the amazing New Grand Lisboa Hotel!! How amazing we thought until nightfall when we noticed the lights from that building was sooooo bright it felt like its noon at midnight!!!

View from our room...very bright...too bright!!!

Where the action takes place....:)

The amazing Grand Lisboa structure!!

Welcoming us at the lobby were the Cabaret Dancers…mostly were from South America and the Philippines…they were all soooo tall! Some were even taller than me!! And Gorgeous!!...Photo op!!!!

What a grin!!!

Here’s some info on Macau…

Macau (also spelled Macao, 澳門, Ou3 Mun4 in Cantonese, Àomén in Mandarin) is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. Located across the Pearl River estuary from Hong Kong, until 1999 Macau was an overseas territory of Portugal. One of the world's most densely populated spots, Macau is best known as Asia's largest destination for gambling taking in even more revenue than Las Vegas !!

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Visitors of nearly all nationalities can enjoy a visa-free stay of between 30 and 90 days. For most nationalities which are not eligible for visa-free stay, a visa-on-arrival is available subject to fee although from 1st July 2010 eligibility for visa-on-arrival was withdrawn for nationals (other than Hong Kong ID Card holders) of Bangladesh, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Sorry for my friends from these countries… 
Full details of current visa requirements can be found on the Macau Government website;

http://www.fsm.gov.mo/psp/eng/EDoN.html#EDoN_VII

The Chinese language is rather difficult to pick up...Russell Peters explains...

 Passports are required and must have a validity of at least 30 days from date of entry into Macau.

Visitors from Hong Kong to Macau pass through immigration and customs formalities on leaving Hong Kong, entering Macau and vice-versa and arrival and departure cards (handed out on the ferries) need to be completed.

As this was a work/vacation trip to Macau….we flew in by Air Asia to Macau in the morning for a meeting I scheduled with the Macau Government Tourism Office. I am very amazed to see the influence of the Potuguese still deep in the administration of Macau.

Full day of official meetings the next day….Intan and Myra spent the next day in Hong Kong Disneyland….coming soon at a blog near you…..

StarWorld like most hotels in Macau is a Casino Hotel….you can see busloads upon busloads of PRC’s (People Republic of China) coming in by the thousands to all the casino’s with wads of cash to gamble!! I’ve been to Las Vegas….but the Chinese gamblers are HYPER!!! One guy was in the lift with me as I was going up to my room…he wore exactly like what a fish monger would wear in Pudu Market but he was holding 3 -4 rolls of chips being escorted up to the Premier floor. Obviously he was upgraded to the high rollers category…after he got out, my collegue said “Do you know how much value were those chips?.....about USD30,000!!!....and that’s considered nothing here in Macau!!”…I’d be wearing a pair of decent pants if I’m holding that amount of money…. 

Obviously most of them are Buddhist... I've always wanted to ask a Buddhist if they think gambling's wrong cause personally I think they like Tibet! ....geddit??

 

http://www.starworldmacau.com/en

The only person that enjoyed the use of the pool was Myra...infact, i think Myra may have been the only child in the hotel!!

In Macau Peninsula most of the tourist area is walking distance. OK….then there’s this huge building ….Matbe the largest single building I’ve seen in years….another mega project by Sheldon Adelson’s The Venetian Resort Macau and really enjoyed Zaia, Cirque Du Soleil….breathtaking!!!

There are a few places that u should not miss when in Macau,

Senado Square is one of the most photogenic spots in the city and the pulse point of Macau’s UNESCO quarter. Leal Senado, or Loyal Senate, is a recognizable landmark in the plaza and was the home of the Legislative Assembly under Portuguese rule. Now a shopping haven…Do you know that a square with a hard on is an erectangle??? Now you do.....

 

Main entrance to Senado Square

Work and pleasure....

The famous egg tart of Macau...really delicious, we were only told on the last day we were there that the delectable morsels were glazed with lard !!

The Ruins of St. Paul's refers to the ruins of a 16th century complex in Macau including of what was originally St. Paul's College and the Cathedral of St. Paul also known as "Mater Dei", a 17th century Portuguese cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle. Today, the ruins are one of Macau's most famous landmarks. In 2005, they were officially enlisted as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Macau. I was told the remains of Paul the amazing Octopus was buried somewhere here...

Venetian Macau the world largest casino, is one of Asia’s most exciting entertainment destination, and nowhere else in Asia will you find such a rare combination of facilities, attractions and amenities.
All 3,000 of its room are suites, experience shopping with over 350 international shops, be dazzled by the street performers, or take a ride on an authentic Venetian gondola, all at the resort.

Macau Casinos….The very reason why people go to Macau… interested? Here’s the full list of Macau Casinos

 http://www.worldcasinodirectory.com/macau/casino-list

The slightly short of 6 hour flight home felt very long due to our tireness and NO MOVIES!!!

In short….great places to visit, 6 hour flight one way…not that bad lah…everybody speaks english….if you’re lucky you can double your money at the Casino’s……what are you waiting for??? Let’s Jom!!!