Tuesday, January 28, 2014

SMART VACUUM - Auto-Vacuum Fresh Dome SV002 10L - Months later review

Follow up on my purchase for SMART VACUUM - Auto-Vacuum Fresh Dome SV002 10L which I got it last year.

Hm...

Usage: Depends. Battery was drained pretty quick when I was using it every day. The vacuuming will occur upon any air detected. Even when the initial vacuuming seems completed, the vacuum sound will still occur at times. Now I don't really use the function... because of the sound.

Sound: The constant sound that it gives out due to vacuuming the air inside can be irritating. At time I will just release the suction but not open it. But the good thing about the sound is it can serve as an alarm, especially is the plastic bag was caught in between the lid or if the lid is not covered properly. SO.. the vacuum sound will go on for eternity. That's when I have to go and check on it.

Now at my 4th time changed batteries, it is still working. Hopefully it will not drained so fast. So all in all, I still think it's a good investment because I don't need to be eating cold bread in the morning or have to spend time to toast/heat the bread.

Woah.. I last edited on 28th Jan 2014.

Meaning to say, this product lasted around one year. (Since it's now Mar 2015)

After using it for around a few months, I stopped using it because of the constant buzzing sound (the vacuuming).

Now it no longer works even after I changed the batteries. It become a regular container which take up my space more than being useful.


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Taiwan Trip Day 1 - Part 2 - At Alishan (阿里山)










We started our journey back to where we came from. And yes, if cold wasn't enough, the rain definitely helps to add on to our Saturday's blues.


The walk down still bearable but definitely I won't encourage to walk during the night. With the rain, it could be quite difficult and/or tedious.

Finally reaching the main area. We are wet and cold and HUNGRY...? Okay, maybe just me, the big eater.

We head for our dinner (which was included in my package with lets-go alishan). Luckily, all the eateries were at the same location, hence, even if we are unsure, we can always go search there.

Because its so cold, steamboat for dinner = YES!

There were some dishes as well but I didn't took the picture.

After dinner, it was getting quite dark. We proceed to shop around for tea! And I manage to bought some @ 360 NT for 1 tin bottle, which is still in my kitchen cabinet. Hopefully I remember to drink it before it expires.

End of presents shopping, we went to 7-11 for snacks and drinks before proceeding to wait for the shuttle bus back to hotel. The wait for the bus was a long terrible wait. Without a phone to call the driver, we waited like eternity in the outdoor which was 13 degree Celsius and raining~~~

So when we finally got back to the hotel, it's heaven. (Did I mentioned that we finally get to bath because hot water was only available from 5pm/7pm (can't remember the actual time) till midnight)

So... we ended our 1st day at Alishan pretty early for our 4pm wake up call as we need to get to Zhu Shan @ 6.30am for the sunrise... 

Cont to Day 2  <<     ||    >>  Read Day 1 Part 1
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Saturday, January 25, 2014

Taiwan Trip Day 1 - Part 1 - Taoyuan (桃園) to Chiayi (嘉義) to Alishan (阿里山)










Depart from Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 - 1.15am flight
Reach Taiwan, Taoyuan Airport (台灣桃園國際機場) - 5.55am

Touched down earlier than scheduled. It was too early that the shops selling the phone card for free data plan are not opened. Headed straight for the bus ticketing counter and got the tickets to Taoyuan HSR (台灣高鐵-桃園).

Although there are a few bus counters, they are for different buses. For non chinese readers, it would be better to ask and before you proceed to buy the tickets.

The ride to Taoyuan HSR was roughly 30mins (or less). At the HSR station, the counter staffs assist to help change my online booking since I reached 2 hours ahead from my pre-booked train. There were Mos Burger and 7-11 and I am sooooo happy just shopping at the 7-11. Because there were a WIDE variety of foods. From the oden to hot dog to onigiri to bento to sandwiches. Lots of choices.

The view outside Taoyuan HSR




After a 45 mins rest and breakfast from 7-11, it was time for my first HSR ride. 

Our seat number

Here come the train!

I opted for the business class for the space and the vacancy and I am glad I did. There were snacks and beverages given in the cabin and the wider space between seats gave me freedom and comfort as compared to my 4 hours plane flight. Very impressed with the time estimation (99.9% accuracy)
snacks and beverage served in HSR

An hour and 30 mins later, we reached Chiayi station (嘉義高鐵)  BUT it was another 1 hour+ of waiting for our driver for the ride to Alishan (阿里山).

We spent time at Starbucks while our driver arrived 10 mins before 11am.

I engaged the service from lets-go.alishan. Hence, my accommodation, transport and partial tour were all catered for. And luckily, they accepted visa payment as there were a 50% payment required while the remaining will be paid in cash to the coordinator on the day itself.

Our driver to Alishan acted as our partial tour guide too... Giving us information along our ride and stopping in between to let us have a short break, get some air, and also restroom breaks. The ride was 4 hours long but he was a good driver, hence none of us had any motion sickness.


A view of the tea plantation on our way up to Alishan. Alishan is well-known for their Alishan Wulong/Oolong Tea.

The map of Alishan

Once we reached Alishan, we found out that we have to transfer to another bus to reach our hotel. I was pretty upset with this arrangement because actually this hotel wasn't my original accommodation. If according to my original booking, it would have been Dafeng and it was at the location where we waited for the bus.

(Story goes like this... the coordinator called me a month before my Taiwan trip on the need to change hotel as Dafeng was going through renovation but when I reached the other hotel, they were also in the process of renovation works. A day prior to my trip, the service personnel informed me that my room for double bed was not available for 2 days straight which I accidentally overheard the hotel staffs saying that the hotel was booked only like 2 days before my arrival date?)

It was pretty cold when we reached Alishan despite it was around 12pm? There was a telco towards the right hand side (in the below picture) but as we reach Alishan on a Saturday, the place was not open for business, hence, only Wifi from our hotel.


The main location for food, transport and souvenirs

After waiting for quite some time for the hotel bus, we finally got to the hotel. In the end, I have to shifted room for my 2 days' stay because they don't have queen size bed for 2 days in a row.

The hotel itself is not very impressive. The hotel accommodation was priced at at $2600 NTD for twin room per night stay and the good part would be it is pretty near (3 mins) to the train station (chaoping) which is headed to the zhu shan station where you can get to see a very amazing sunrise (which... is not so for me... sigh...) but it is around 20 mins walk to the area where you can get food, transport, souvenirs etc.

Finally.. we reached the hotel around 1pm and took a short break before more walking down to the main area...

Misty day!


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