Yet Another Review: Online Shopping at Taobao (淘宝)!

Since my previous big loot using Amcon, I made a few more purchases using different methods and different agents and forwarders. So I will be doing a quick review on their services 🙂

Peeka SHIP4U
Shipping cost: $49.20
Calculated by actual weight: 13.7kg
Type: Sea
Delivery type: to home address
Duration: 20 days (paid shipping on 22nd Oct, received on 10th Nov)

This shipment was the largest, most expensive and took the longest, Peeka’s customer service is getting lousier by the minute and I would suggest to avoid them at all cost from now on.

65daigou Buy-for-Me
Shipping cost (inclusive of agent fee): $22.26
Calculated by volumetric weight: 1.12kg
Type: Express Air
Delivery type: Self-collect from Tai Seng Warehouse
Duration: 4 days (paid on 26th Dec, collected on 30th Dec)

This was a very small shipment and I needed it quickly. The small box contained a replacement LCD screen for my Samsung Galaxy S4. I used them because I had some points leftover that could offset the agent fees. However, they are not as trustworthy as they claimed they are. They actually packaged many of my small items in a large box and charged me the volumetric weight of their item. BUT, they have good customer service so they refunded me the extra shipping cost after I lodged a complain. I believed they didn’t repack the items to save space, they did not help me check the item nor did they take more care with my fragile item. It was more to the credit of the taobao sellers’ packaging that my items arrived undamaged. Their service was equivalent to a forwarder even though they charge an agent fee.

4PX 国际转运

Shipping cost: $10 (43RMB)
Calculated by actual weight: 0.97kg
Type: Express Air
Delivery type: Self-collect from Popstation
Duration: 4 days (paid for shipping on 12th Jan, collected on 15th Jan)

No more trying of other forwarders for experience, this is by far the best one! There are two delivery options for this, either via Speedpost or Toll. Most people have mentioned that smaller packages are handled by Speedpost and they process things faster than Toll. The best thing is you can now choose to deliver it to a POPStation; no more time wasted waiting for your package at home. I was once again shipping a LCD replacement screen, this time for my Note II and the seller packaged it really well. I personally reminded the taobao sellers that the item was being forwarded to Singapore, I believed that’s why the items were packaged extremely well this time round.

Honeymoon: Goodbye Berlin and Hello Iceland! (Day 13)

On the morning of Day 13 we took the S-Bahn to Berlin Schönefeld Airport to catch our flight to Iceland via WOW air. Wow air is a newly formed budget airline specializing in budget flights to Reykjavik. We booked 10 months early and paid only 150 SGD for our flight from Berlin to Reykjavik. The stewardess were donned in bright fuchsia uniforms that gave off a very classy vibe and the inside of the aircraft was uniquely designed with catchy greetings on each seat and catchy phrases on the usual mundane objects; it really made the flight somewhat special and extra cozy. They also played ‘Ice Age 2’ on the overhead screen during the flight, unfortunately we didn’t have any earphones so we couldn’t really enjoy it. I didn’t manage to take pictures as the flight was pretty packed, so some of the pictures below are courtesy of WOW air Pinterest board.

3 hours later, we arrived at Keflavík International Airport around 3pm and it was already starting to get dark. We originally booked an airport transfer via IGtours and met up with the driver, he told us that one of the flight ferrying the bulk of the passengers sharing the bus with us was delayed, so the driver was going to wait for them. Unlike most airport transfers in Iceland, the minibus for IGtours goes directly to Siguron’s apartment without having to make a transfer at the bus station. The driver recommended us Iceland Excursions as a backup and talked to the staff there to give us a discount to make up for the trouble. We agreed as we didn’t make any upfront payment for the transfer and the driver seemed really apologetic about it. We also purchased a sim card (Vodafone) which activated immediately from the convenience shop in the airport and changed some of our Euros into Icelandic Krona (ISK) before heading outside to board the bus.

view from the plane

snow!

nice and warm in the bus

Iceland Excursions. all buses have wifi!

lots of snow

It was a smooth ride to the bus station, with a few stops at locations along the main road. We then had to transfer our luggage onto a mini-bus that could maneuver the smaller, narrower streets in Reykjavik which brought us to Siguron’s apartment! We tried our luck with SuperJeeps but they informed us that the northern lights tour has been postponed due to heavy cloud cover. So we bundled ourselves up and went for a walk along Reykjavik’s main shopping street, Laugavegur. Our last stop was the supermarket Bonus where we switched our protein from pork to fish, which is really cheap in Iceland!

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market with BKK Tours (Part 2)

After watching the train pass through the market, we boarded the mini-bus and head to the floating market. Miss Air gave us some notes before we started the boat ride. She said that we had to haggle for everything that were sold on the boats, including food. If we wanted anything, we just have to point and the boat will stop (so avoid pointing at random items).

We didn’t buy anything from the floating boats; Miss Air was on the other boat so we were quite afraid of being ‘chopped’. We then met up with the group at a coconut sugar plantation. The sugar is all natural and made from the sap of the coconut tree, great for people on the paleo diet!

After some drinks and shopping we got on the boat and went back to our boarding area and explored the other parts of the market on foot.

We also had boat noodles at this stall run by an old lady, with lots of customers. Without Miss Air, I wouldn’t think it would have been possible to order anything since we don’t speak Thai. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the food but it was definitely nice! This stall is actually not the best, according to Miss Air the best one was not open on the day of our visit. After having a nice lunch, we headed back to our hotel. We were very fortunate as the journey to and from Bangkok was quite smooth; the only traffic jam we met with was in the Pratunam area and it didn’t rain too! We also tipped Miss Air and the driver separately for a job well done because we really enjoyed our trip.

Maeklong Railway Market with BKK Tours (Part 1)

I haven’t had the chance to visit these two markets in my previous visits to Bangkok because there wasn’t enough time. These markets are located about 1.5 hours drive away so you would need at least half a day to cover the locations. Many Singaporeans purchase discounted deals with sites like Groupon; but we still preferred an agency with better accountability and therefore we decided to go with BKK Tours. We contacted BKK tours by filling up the form on their webpage and they replied us promptly with information and quotations of the tour. We were deciding between the less touristy, more authentic Tha Kha Floating Market or the famous Damnoen Saduak Floating Market; we decided to go for the latter since it is the biggest and oldest one around.

our guide ms. air!

the mini-bus

I have nothing but praises for BKK Tours! All their staff had a good command of English so communication was really easy. We paid a total of 10150 THB for 7 adults. This included pickup and drop off at our hotel, a spacious mini-bus, snacks during the tour and boat ride. Our tour guide was Miss Air and she was superb! She was very friendly, chatty and generous; we didn’t pay a single cent for the food we ate along the way. According to her, she loves to feed her customers. It was a great experience having a local guide you through the market; makes it much easier to look for and purchase the things we want.

First up, the Railway Market! It is a wet market (similar to our 巴刹) so it is catered more to Asian cooking; lots of seafood, seasoning and a variety of dried snacks can be found.

Miss Air recommended us to a few stalls like this delicious fish crackers sold by friendly young guy.

This stall selling pork floss, pork skin crackers i.e. similar to Lin Zhen Xiang (林真香) but cheaper and better.

Next to this stall was shop selling a HUGE variety of sweets, bread and cakes.

So we winded through the wet market, stopping and buying things along the way and finally reached the railway tracks. There are actually announcements to say that the train is approaching. Miss Air say that it is not uncommon for the locals to scream at you if they think you are in danger because they don’t want you to die in front of their stalls.

So the stalls extend all the way to the tracks. The pathway for walking is very narrow and cramp but the entire place opens up for a moment when the train passes through and you can see the sky!

Pemberton Accommodation Review: Lavender and Berry Farm

Website: http://lavenderandberryfarm.com.au/

This is not my first stay in this wonderful place. During our previous trip to Perth, my sister booked this place when we visited Pemberton, and we both regretted not staying longer! The place is so peaceful, rustic and beautiful; I would willingly stay here for the rest of my life.

We stayed in cabin 4 this time round, the bedding arrangement was similar to cabin 3 (which we stayed in 2011). They have a kitchenette, living room and two bedrooms, one with a double bed, the other has a bunk bed and a single bed. So it can comfortably accommodate 5 adults. We requested for a cot which was placed in the first room and there was also an extra mattress in the second. I am a light sleeper, so I dragged one of the mattress into the living room and slept on the floor on both occasions; I still slept pretty well!

They have a cafe that serves super delicious pancakes! And also a gift shop that sell bath and body products plus their homemade jams.

The beds were comfortable, kitchenette was well-stocked and the fireplace that kept us warm. Please remember to switch on the fan in the living room! We thought the fan was for use during the summer, however it is fixed in the opposite direction and it’s meant to circulate the hot air. Once we switched it on the the house became much more comfortable; without the fan, it can get pretty cold in the morning and at night.

I have nothing to complain about this place, other than the lousy reception. It is very secluded, so you need a car to get here. The ducks tend to run towards you to beg for food; it can be a little scary for the children. You probably have to cook your dinners since there is not many restaurants in the town.

Fremantle Accommodation Review: Limestone at South Beach

Website: http://www.southbeachfremantle.com.au/Accommodation.html

We initially found this on stayz, but found that they have a standalone website. We booked through the website since we could make payment through Paypal.

There are a total of 3 rooms and one toilet on the 2nd floor; the foldable bed was originally in the masterbed room.

The ground floor consist of the living room, dining room, lounge area and the washer/dryer room. Carpeted staircase that makes it much safer for the kids.

The rooms were clean, beds were comfortable and the air-conditioner worked well. The kitchen was well-equipped and the dish washer really helped! We even had a barbecue in the lounge area when we were there. The house is around many famous eateries like Run Amuk and Ootong and Lincoln. It was easy to find and check-in was very quick and easy. The beach is within walking distance and there is a huge playground nearby. It was just a few minutes drive from the main area in Fremantle. There is a Woolsworth just  street away with some clothing shops. It was a pity that we only explored that area on the last day.

The only complain was the water pressure of the shower, other than that, there’s nothing to pick on!

Hougang Parkview: Review of Taobao (淘宝) Loots!

A quick update on how some of the buys from taobao have been doing 🙂 If you would like me to review the items, please leave a comment and I shall get to it.

First up, the correct legs of the study chairs have finally arrived. It was a SUPER long wait. The packaging was beyond lousy. Luckily nothing was damaged in the process. The workmanship was not the best, however after we fixed everything together, the chair looks pretty decent! The chairs are quite comfortable and sturdy. The material of the chair is just what I wanted; there are small holes in it that makes it more cooling to sit on, the material is water-repellent so it doesn’t absorb sweat and it is easy to clean!

I am loving the robot vacuum that I bought in my first loot. It is really the greatest helper at home! The amount of dust it vacuums is beyond belief. We purposely bought furniture that can be shifted around or had legs that were long enough for the robot to get under. So whenever I can, I clear the floor of anything that can be cleared and just let it roam. It uses about 70-80% of its battery life if I want it to clean the entire house. The only problem I have with it is sometimes it doesn’t charge properly; it will show that it is 100% when in fact it has only been charged 20%. But the problem is easily solved by removing the robot from the dock and putting it back to charge again. The dustmite vacuum is quite pointless and under utilized, plus the supposed ‘vibrating’ function it had spoiled after the first use.

The lights are all working well, except for the service yard light and kitchen light. Please do not buy LED lights from this shop: 度尔家居专营店, both the capacitor for both light fused, one within a week of installation and one within 6 months of installation. My sister’s light from them also had the same problem. Although the sellers usually are willing to send a replacement, but this just shows the quality of their products are just not good.

Magic bullet is working very very well! I use it mainly for chopped garlic, grinding sugar and the ocassional smoothie. The many many cups that they provided really helps as I can store the processed items in them without being afraid that I would run out.

Corkboard was quite easy to put up on the wall. It is now our travelogue!

Bangkok Hotel Review: Glow Pratunam

I have been to Bangkok quite a few times and stayed in the following hotels before: Best Western Mayfair Suites, Tango Living Vibrant Place, Evergreen Hotel, Baiyoke Sky Hotel. The review of my most recent stay at Best Western Mayfair Suites can be found here. Of all the previous stays, my favourite was Tango Vibrant Living Place but it seems that the place has not been well-maintained. Evergreen Hotel was right next to the BTS Ratchathewi and great for families as it is an apartment but I preferred staying in the Pratunam area. I got really sick when I stayed in Baiyoke Sky so I am never going back there again. I have always wanted to stay in Glow Pratunam because of good reviews and finally I got to do it this time! Website: http://www.zinchospitality.com/glowbyzinc/pratunam

RATES & SERVICE: Excellent I initially wanted to try Budacco Hotel but due to the bedding configurations that were required for our group, we went for Glow Pratunam. Glow was considered pricey for Bangkok but still cheap at about S$100 per night. We needed 3 rooms with different bedding configurations: a king-size bed, a twin bed and a triple bed. Glow was able to give us all our requirements and we even got to stay on the 20th floor! Two of the rooms were adjoining so that was even better. Got to give them many many thumbs up for good service!

ROOM: Very good The rooms were HUGE and we got a great city view of Bangkok, I could even monitor road conditions from our room to decide on what form of transport to take. The beds were comfortable and clean. I like that they have laminated floor; really hate carpets since they are difficult to clean. Everything worked well except for a faulty sliding cabinet door and a faulty toilet in another room.

LOCATION: Excellent There is no better place to be than Pratunam! We were opposite Platinum Mall, next to the morning market and surrounded by tons and tons of street food, which I will talk about in a later post. Everyone was very happy with the location. It was easy to get a metered cab, look around for Glow staff members on the ground floor around McDonald’s. Alternatively you can cross over and take a cab from the taxi stand at Platinum Mall.

*WARNING TO ALL* do not ever eat at this Zhi Char place that is on the right side of Glow. It only sets up at night. We, unfortunately decided to try the food and we waited for a good 30 minutes before a plate of vegetables were served. We then wanted to leave because we had waited for so long and there were still so many tables waiting, so we cancelled whatever orders we could. HOWEVER, that single meal still cost more than a total of any 3 meals we had in Bangkok. This was one of the worst decision ever! If you return to Glow at night, most food stalls would have closed. This place will look so tempting, but stop yourself! Instead, eat at McDonald’s or even order room service. If you can, just a few metres along the street on Glow, you will find a roadside stall serving the usual thai food. This place has limited seating, so ask for a takeaway. We tried the Phad Thai, Phad Sew (stir fried hor fun), fried pork with rice, basil pork with rice. All of which were 100 times better than the seafood restaurant.

Hougang Parkview: Another Big Loot from Taobao (淘宝)!

I recently made another purchase using Amcon Express. I didn’t like this experience as much as the previous time. I felt that this time round, communication with May wasn’t the best and she also insisted that I told her the wrong information. It was not totally her fault, perhaps due to the fact that there were much more items this time round, I came across some really crappy taobao sellers.

So what happened exactly? I did the usual thing, buy all my items from taobao using my credit card and having Amcon’s address as the shipping address. I was quite happy actually, cos’ I got some discounts from my tmall 积分 and 淘金币. However, two sellers took very long to ship the items (books and cork board) and by then 90% of the items have already arrived in the China warehouse on 21st June. Without my knowledge, May decided to ship these items to Singapore (装柜) first, then she shipped the other batch over on 23rd June. Normally, this would not have been an issue but there were more bumps in the process this time round.

1st problem: number of boxes (箱数)
This problem is arise when I purchase more than 1 bulky item from their stall, some of them were not able to tell me how many boxes these items would arrive in. So the number of boxes Amcon received and the number of boxes I thought I should receive didn’t match up;  because some of them told me that the items (study chair and weighing scale) told me that they will ship the items in two boxes but ended up shipping it in one. How to avoid this? Keep on checking with the seller, generally if there is only one tracking number (订单号) there should only be one box.

2nd problem: seller not taking note of instructions (备注)
This problem only happened with the seller which I bought the study chairs from. There were lots of options for the study chairs I bought; you can choose the height of the back support, the type of legs and the material of the chair. With this, most sellers will cater to this my having you select them during the purchase process. This seller did not cater to this, so I had to choose some other similar option while the seller adjusted the price and put a note down. However, even after extensive communication with them, they managed to send the wrong legs to me. So after I made noise about their irresponsibility, the seller send me the correct legs free of charge. So now I had to have another batch of shipment coming in.
Furthermore, May suddenly said she receive another package at her warehouse which I have no idea came from which seller (initially I thought it is from whom I bought the cork board from). So I won’t be able to pinpoint the crappy seller until I receive the item.

3rd problem: below average service from Amcon
Somehow, May was not as prompt as the previous time. The last time I shipped my items, it arrived in Singapore in 8 days. This time round, it took 13 days. I mentioned it to May, not to offend her, but just wanted to know if it was due to a holiday or something. She was very offended and became defensive and started insisting that I told her certain things which I did not, and I have my Whatsapp to vouch for that. It was only at this point did I realize I had 3 shipments coming in – 21st June, 23rd June and the final batch in 1st July (the items arrived on 28th June, but somehow she did not ship them over immediately). This 1st July shipment will only arrive in Singapore on 13th July.

One of the reason why I chose Amcon again was because it took the shortest time to arrive in Singapore from China and also the service from May. I didn’t mind paying more (shipping is more expensive plus the $35 extra admin charge) for better service but after this round, I shall try Oops.sg for my next shipment.

Unhappiness aside, at least I got my items! My shipment was HUGE (1.3 cbm) this time round, made me think that I didn’t utilize the 1 cubic metre fully the previous time. I barricade myself from the entrance after unwrapping all my items!

I don’t have the pictures for all the items as I was too tired and excited with the unboxing process, plus I was doing it alone, but this are the significant ones.

Food slicer very useful! No more tears when slicing onions or being afraid of chopping of my own fingers. The blade is very very sharp, so the handle should be used all the time.
Knife stand it is made of bamboo (hopefully its true). Fits all our knifes well, good quality.
Magic bullet cheap alternative to the Shimono food processor that my mum has. Works just as well so far and the plug is compatible to our sockets.
Toolbox better quality than the ones in Toyogo, however you don’t have to specially buy this since Homefix also has comparable ones.
Motorised ‘unicycle’ this is for a relative, who is thinking of selling it, contact me if you are interested (item has been sold)! Very good quality and packaging but requires some practice to learn how to ride it.
Wall clock good quality and it looks great!
Toilet roll box very happy with the quality since I had a hard time finding a decent seller. Many of the other sellers had a lot of complains about quality and broken items.
Tanita weighing scale bought two of them, both arrived in original tanita packaging, Japanese words and all. It is so much cheaper and the quality is comparable.
Dining chairs love the design, but the chairs came with scratches on all the legs, indicating that their paint job is quite lousy. the seller said that I should have told them that it was meant to be shipped to Singapore so that they good package the chairs better. However, some of the scratched areas have already rusted, so I am pretty sure it was scratched a while ago and not only during the shipping process which the seller kept insisting that it was. I got a 20% discount though after I made noise.
Corkboard definitely cheaper and extremely good quality! I bought the 80 by 120cm one.
Kitchen rack no pictures for this, but the quality is really really good! Furthermore, you can shift the height of the rack. I was initially kicking myself for not buying something similar in Daiso but I gotta say that I was greatly consoled when I un-boxed this.
Study chairs no pictures yet as I am waiting for the damn legs! So far the quality seems pretty good and it was packed well too.

Check out this post for reviews of the items.

Bunbury Airbnb Review: Lamorna Bed and Breakfast

We had a really hard time finding a decent accommodation for our first night stay in Bunbury. There was some concert going on and almost all the accommodation was taken up or required a minimum of 2 nights stay. We finally managed to find Lorraine’s place on Stayz and we were so glad we got to stay there! She has two rooms, one that can sleep a total of 7 persons and another that sleeps two.I love the quiet, homely neighborhood; it looked like a place where I would like to settle down in. Lorraine’s place was spacious and her backyard is lovely! She served us some delicious homemade bread, cereal and fruits for breakfast. The beds were comfortable and the place was clean. It was a pity that we didn’t really get the chance to explore the surrounding as we arrived pretty late and set off early the next morning.
If you are a light sleeper, you might not like the arrangement of packing everyone in a room. This arrangement was alright for one night, but I don’t think I would have survived another. Haha. The place was also quite far out, so you would need to drive to the city centre to get food, so as long as you have a car, everything will be fine.

Use my referral link here and you can get $57 SGD off your first booking!