8 Things Before Flying to Perth

Alright, I am going to Perth in a few days time, so there are a few things that need to be done before flying.
You might find these things useful to you too or you can use it as a checklist.

•  Apply for visa

Anybody holding on to the following passport could apply for the Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) online here

• Brunei - Darussalam
• Canada
• Hong Kong (SAR PRC)
• Japan
• Malaysia
• Singapore
• Korea, Rep of (South)
• United States

If your passport is not one of the following, then it will be slightly more troublesome for you. You need to get your ETA done via travel agent, airlines or Australian visa office. You can find more details here.

Each visa will cost AUD20.00.
It valid for 1 year and a maximum of 3 months stay per visit.

• Travel insurance

The perks of being a DBS bank user, I got the MSIG TravelShield Premier Plan at only SGD34.10*. The difference between the Premier and the Classic plan is the bonus cover of kidnap, rental vehicle, funeral, credit card and adventurous activities and so on. Of course, the Premier plan has a higher payout too.

* The price was after discount. There was a promotion during the time I bought this insurance, so it was cheap.

• Activating ATM card's magnetic stripe for overseas use

Since last year, the magnetic stripe for overseas use was disabled to enhance card's security because of the increasing card fraud. To activate the card for overseas use, you can activate via ATM, iBanking or at the bank itself.

For those using DBS or POSB, here are the steps on how to activate your card:

• Any DBS/POSB ATM
• Select "More Services" twice
• Select "Change ATM Card Overseas Access"
• Once the function has been enabled, a receipt will be printer
• iBanking (of course, only applicable for iBanking users)
• Login to iBanking with your User ID and Password
• Select "Credict & Debit/ATM Card"
• Select "Overseas ATM Cash Withdrawal Access" and choose the card that you wish to enable
• Any DBS bank (for DBS user)/POSB bank (for POSB user)
• Approach the counter staff

Similarly, you can use the same way to deactivate the overseas usage after you come back from the country

*These information was taken from DBS website.

• Correct adapter and multi plug

Australia Plug Type (taken off the web)

Make sure you get the correct adapter for the plug or you will have to go through the hassle to get the adapter in Australia. To be more convenient, get the universal adapter. It solves all the worry of getting the wrong adapter.

Another thing that I have learnt over the years is to bring multi plug. Typically, there are very few power point in the place you stay, but you have to charge your camera, mobile phone, GPS, and many more things. Things get even worse when you are not alone. Everyone is snatching for that power point. A multi plug can ease that problem.

• Plan your trip

Don't assume, things might not go your way. Plan what you are doing and where you are going. Different places may have different laws or rules over certain things, so make sure you do some research before flying. Trust me, it will save you a lot of trouble. 

For example, if you are planning to rent a car, make sure your license is at least 1 years old. Don't get too happy if you just got your license and you thought you can drive in Australia. The driver need to have the license for at least 12 consecutive months.

Other things to take note are the opening hours of particular place that you want to visit, ways to get around, etc.

Planning the trip will allow you to maximise the trip instead of getting lost or waste time travelling to places that are not open when you visit. It also help to gauge the cost of the trip.

• Check the climate

Well, not everywhere is like Singapore. Australia is going into Autumn in September. According to my sources, it is generally hot in the day, cold in the night, sometimes showers. Temperature range between 8 to 22 degree Celsius. Since Perth is along the coast, it might get windy too. Do bring the correct clothing to save unwanted expenditure of money and time to find suitable clothing there.

•  Exchanging currency

Well, I just bought some Australian dollars at the rate of 1.178 (as of 09 September 2014). Most of the places are selling at 1.18 or 1.19. It is just a matter of .01 if you are looking at just a dollar. If you are buying at a large amount, it could mean quite a huge difference. So depending on the amount you are buying, those buying small amount will not be affected much.

• Other obvious stuffs...

This section include booking of flight tickets and accommodation. I have seen people who had done everything else but getting the flight tickets.

Please remember to bring your daily essentials too unless you are intending to buy in Perth which might not be cheaper (might end up more expensive than Singapore). 

Last but not least, make sure you get the dates and time correct. Don't miss your flight or book the wrong date for flight or accommodation. Have a fun and safe trip. =)

Port Dickson International Triathlon 2014

Once again, I went to Port Dickson again for triathlon. This is the 5th year I have been there for race already, but it still feel good every time I go there. Port Dickson is a really nice place to chill. It is definitely a good place to relax and do a triathlon in the midst of pleasure.

Pre-Race

The race was on a Sunday, so we headed out early in the morning on Saturday (Singapore's National Day) to avoid the jam at custom. All of us met up at Tuas checkpoint around 0600hr and off we went! The traffic went well (it might be due to the price hike to enter Malaysia).

Since we entered Malaysia so early because the traffic was smooth, we had a lot of time. So we stopped by Yong Peng (not the pit stop along the expressway) for breakfast!

One Plus One Restaurant

Yup, instead of the usual pit stop at Yong Peng, we decided to turn into Yong Peng city to search for food and we found One Plus One Restaurant for dim sum. This place wasn't hard to spot, it is just located beside the market place.

Dim sum for breakfast

 The picture is just the first round of food. We had 3 rounds of food in total. The dim sum wasn't very fantastic I would say, but it was decent enough to fill my tummy. On top of that, it was way cheaper than Singapore. There were 5 of us and each of our tummy was fully filled to the brim, but the total bill was only about RM55.00. I would totally recommend it for the price.

After filling our tummy, we continued our journey up north. Our next stop was Tangkak. It had been our tradition to head over to Tangkak first before to Port Dickson. The main reason is their Mount Ophir durians. The race over the last few years were usually in July, which is the durian season so we will always order durians so that we could bring them back to Singapore when we were heading back. However, this year was in August and the season was over when we went. We didn't manage to get any fresh durians from there. Just a side note, the durians are getting more popular because of media coverage. Now, they even got tour buses stopping by for their durians, so their price is no longer competitive. Although that being said, it is still cheaper to buy durian there than in Singapore.

We continued our journey and reached Port Dickson around 1400hr. The check in time for the hotel (Avillion Admiral Cove) was 1500hr so they don't have the rooms for us yet. So we went over to the race expo first to collect our race pack.

Flying Panda at the race expo

When it was about 1500hr, we headed back to the hotel to check in and unload our bicycles from the car.

Unloading and assembling our bicycles

Then we headed to our rooms.

Flying Panda's room

The room was pretty decent and cozy, but this is the old wing of the hotel. I had been to the new wing once and I love the new wing more actually. But this was good enough too. So once we checked in, we started to prepare our things for the next day (the RACE)!

Flying Panda all ready

Check out my baby panda, he is all ready for the race.

Anyway, back to the hotel room, I went to check what was complimentary for us.

In the bathroom

At the pantry

Well, it seemed decent that they have all the essential items (e.g. toothbrush and toothpaste - I always forget to bring them on a travel trip). The rest of the items weren't that important.

At the balcony, my room could see the transition area.

Transition area from the balcony

Because the road was closed from 1600hr to 1730hr for the kids triathlon and we haven't had lunch at that time, we walked out to a nearby stall (which is at least 1km away) to eat.

Shop front of CKTM

Nasi Goreng Ayam (Fried Rice with Chicken)

It looked delicious right? But it wasn't. The chicken wasn't that bad, but the rice was quite bad. This definitely doesn't worth my RM6.00. I just had a little bit of the rice, and finished the chicken. I was still hungry though, but it was alright because it's was going to be dinner time soon!

The race participants had complimentary carbo-loading dinner. It was a buffet style.

My plate of carbohydrates

The picture is just one of my servings by the way. Compared to previous years, I did see improvements in the food and services. 

If you think that we were done eating for the night after the carbo-loading dinner, then you are wrong. After the dinner, we headed out to the nearby Pasar Malam (night market in malay) to look for more food!

Fruits Stall

Food Stall

There were a lot of options for food and I really didn't know what to get. But the most tempting food that I see there was the fried kway teow.

Power Char Koey Teow (Fried Kway Teow)

I also got some satay to go along with it. It only cost RM9.00 for 14 sticks!

We spotted some pyrotechnics at one of the stalls, and guess what. Our free child was unleashed. Got a few "Pop Pop" at RM1.00 each and we started war!

Pyrotechnics

Aftermath of Pop Pop

We painted the floor with our expended "Pop Pop".

Back to the hotel, this was where the food that we bought got reviewed.

Supper back in hotel

The fried kway teow was really superb. Not only was the smell heavenly at the store, it just taste good too. I simply love it. The satay weren't bad too. The meat wasn't too dry and each stick was thick bunch of meat (I bought chicken by the way). Like what a lot of Singaporeans say, the food always seems to taste better on the other side.

After supper, we ended our night because it was already about 2300hr. We still got to wake up early (0430hr) the next day for the race. 

Race Day

So like I said, we woke up at 0430hr to wash up and went for breakfast. I didn't take any photos of the breakfast because I haven't really wake up yet to remember to bring my camera down for photos. The food variety was decent and it was definitely better than the carbo-loading dinner.

We went back to the hotel to prepare for the race (change up, tattoo bib number on arm, check all the race items, bike check in at the transition area)  after the breakfast.

After everything was done, time to relax a bit before the start.

And the race start...

Catch me at the transition

And I finished the race

Well, I couldn't be taking photos during the race and my photographer (CT) cannot be running around with me to take photographs too so that is what I have: transitions and finish.

And yes sadly, even though there were so many professional photographers around, I don't see any of my photo inside their albums. If you do see my in any photographer's album, tag me or let me know please. Thank you in advance.

Here's my timing:
Swim 00:31:11
Bike 01:18:48
Run 00:58:18
Overall 02:48:18

I have to clarify that I am not an elite triathlete or whatsoever, I just train and join for leisure.

Anyway, well done to those who completed the race too. It was a pleasant race. Hope all of the participants enjoyed it too.

Post Race
By the time we washed up and packed up, it was already about 1200hr (check out timing). So we checked out and set off to find our lunch. It was a Sunday afternoon so a lot of shops were closed. We took a while to find a place at Tangkak to have our lunch.

Restorant Shi De Fu

Wanton Noodle

Claypot Tom Yum Noodle

Claypot Lor Mee

I was so hungry then, I ate all of the 3 dishes. I would say there signature tom yum noodle is still the best out of all the 3 dishes I ate.

Having a filled tummy, we hit the road again and made it back to Singapore before the jam at custom got worse. So that was the end of our trip. Short and sweet...

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