Author Archives: Lloyds_admin

Hong Kong Express Airlines | Borderline Scam

Hong Kong Express is a budget airline that offer flights between cities in Asia; it was recently acquired by Cathay Pacific.

When you go on its website https://www.hkexpress.com/ and search for a flight you will be presented some flight options that on the surface seem to be quite reasonably priced. However, remember that these prices are actually not particularly relevant because by the time you actually pay for the flights the total price is likely to be around double what you thought you were quoted. Most of these charges are mandatory; the one that really takes the biscuit is the “Convenience fee” which you can remove whatever you do. It must be the only airline that charges it. When you travel on the airline you will not detect any convenience, the online ordering process is not particularly convenient either and the final price that you pay is actually only includes a carry-on bag.

You will notice a lot of charges like:-

For Hong Kong
– Airport Construction Fee HK$ 100.47
– HK Air Passenger Departure Tax HK$ 132.86
– HKG Security Charge HK$ 62.28
– Fuel Surcharge HK$ 174.38

For Vietnam
– VN Passenger and Baggage Security Charge HK$ 16.61
– VN Passenger Service Charge HK$ 166.07
– Fuel Surcharge HK$ 174.38

Airport Construction Fee – The airport is already built and we are using it; how come this fee still applies? Is this another one of Hong Kong’s initiative to make the place more competitive?

Fuel Surcharge which was started in 2004 was a response to runaway oil prices but now oil price is at ~US 70/barrel many other airlines do not charge it at all. So why does HK Express charge it? and the Surcharge is close to 40% of the total air ticket. We must set a law to prohibit this gorging. The fuel surcharge should not be more than 10% of the air ticket price.

The convenience fee of HK$ 99.64 is added on right at the end so you barely notice it and what is it for? Nothing. It’s a scam. The fact that they try to surreptitiously add it on without telling you is unethical.

In conclusion, there is nothing convenient about using HK Express and I urge discerning travellers to do some serious price comparison before getting ripped off by this airline.

Sai Kung’s Unique Geography make it an Ideal Place to live (Part 2)

This is our second article about Sai Kung Hong Kong; it’s a follow on article from:-

https://lloyds.com.hk/hong-kongs-hidden-gem-sai-kung/

This article is more about some of the lesser known places within Sai Kung and some of the really unique environment that makes it an ideal place to hang your hat. Geographically it is near the sea and there is also home to the largest country park in Hong Kong; this explains why the air quality in Sai Kung is generally better than other parts of Hong Kong. Sai Kung is also home to some indigenous villages that have been there for over 100 hundred years and Man Yee Wan and some other villages have been extant since the Qing Dynasty.Hong Kong Living also talks about some of the fascinating history of Sai Kung.

Within many of the villages such as Sha Tsui, Pak Tam Chung, Wong Chuk Wan, Tai Tan, Po Lo Che, Pak Kong, etc. there are a lot of village houses that are well constructed and very luxurious inside. For those looking to buy a village house in Sai Kung or rent a village house in Sai Kung there are plenty of options; but it may be worth securing your pad now whilst the market sentiment is slow.

Here is an example of a Sai Kung village house with a resplendent sea view.

Sai Kung Village House with Sea View for Sale

Driving is a must for getting around in Sai Kung unless you live in the city centre of Sai Kung, without a car, getting around is not easy.

The prices have softened a bit this year in Sai Kung. There are certainly a lot of options available for those looking to rent an apartment in Sai Kung – there are a lot of very nice apartments with magnificent views and are going for a reasonable rental amount. There are also Apartments and House for Sale in Sai Kung. We discovered a very professional and helpful agent in Sai Kung called Your New Home who are based in Sai Kung and they specialise in Sai Kung Real Estate. On their website there is a good selection of properties and the fellow who heads the operation is called John Jarman who is very helpful and professional. The Property Shop is another agent in the area who are awfully helpful.

For those who don’t have to watch their purse strings, there are some luxury villas and developments in Sai Kung and some these villas and houses are really breath-taking. You can go on the OneDay website, OKAY or EastMount – all of these sites seem to showcase a lot of selection when it comes to villas and luxury houses in Sai Kung.

Fiverr’s reviews and ratings problem

Most of the profiles on Fiverr from China are actually run by companies they are not individuals. They waste your time and cancel on jobs you give them.

One of the best ways to avoid time-wasters is to look up where they are from and if it says China then avoid it like the plague because all the experiences we’ve had so far have been bad ones… They also know how to rig it so that their profiles will show up with 5 stars with a plethora of stunning reviews…. This is China; they just pay people to write good reviews and all the bad reviews just get buried.

Examples of suppliers from Kurtkin who waste your time:-
https://www.fiverr.com/kurtkin

Key Ingredients to Avoid in Baby Formulas

There are so many baby formulas today that it has become extremely difficult to choose the right. In addition, every single company seems to be calling their forumlas “organic” which adds to the complication of understanding what is really natural and good for your baby.

The fastest way is to ignore all of the glossy marketing materials and videos telling you about how great this company is and how much research has gone into the formula – go straight for the ingredients list. I was dumb-founded how difficult it was to search on Google for “XXX formulas ingredients” – the top 10 results just showed glossy marketing materials of partial ingredients list.

After you found the ingredients list, the moment you find these ingredients you should just drop the product immediately:-

(1) Palm Oil or Palm Olein or Pork Olein Oil
Other than the massive environmental impact caused from its harvesting (e.g. deforestation) Palm Oil has been shown to increase blood LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. It is one of the cheaper oils hence it is used in many of these formulas but I would steer clear of it.

(2) Sucrose
Sucrose is sugar and doesn’t feature in breast milk ever. This ingredient is really bad for human beings as it spikes the insulin level of the new born and changes the metabolism. I imagine producers put this in so that new borns would prefer the taste of their formula to competitors as sugar always taste good to kids but you get the kid hooked on sugar at much younger age and permanently alter his/her metabolism

(3) Maltodextrin
Maltodextrin is a highly-processed ingredient, found in a lot of fast foods and other processed foods that releases glucoses when broken down which would cause an insulin-spike in the new born but in addition to that it causes bloating and other gastro-intestinal side-effects. It is a product that should not be found in any products labelled “Organic” because there is nothing organic about this chemical

An Example of baby formula you should definitely avoid:-

This brand called ColosBaby has no English ingredients not on their website nor on any the container either; after mixing it and I tasted the formula it’s so sickly sweet that it would probably cause anyone drinking it to develop type II diabetes. The Vietnamese translation does not explain what sort out vegetable oils are used which is always a worrying sign; assume that Palm Oil is in it and probably worse things even.

Jetstar has terrible customer support and loses Checked-in Bags

Jetstar has reputation of losing luggage for customers especially when transits are involved. This is definitely the first and last time we’ll be using Jetstar… especially when there weren’t that many passengers; how could they screw up?

One luggage went missing during transit – this was 3 days ago and still they haven’t forwarded to us the luggage.

When I try to lodge a complaint on their website and after typing everything up and just logged out.

Today (23 June 2022) – 14:05 to 15:19 Vietnam Time
I called again +65 6499 9702 and spoke with Carina who was absolutely terrible. I waited 30 minutes to get connected and then she couldn’t give me any information and just replied with pre-recorded answers. After she refused to tell me her supervisor’s name she put the receiver down and just disconnected me for 15 minutes hoping that I would hang up.

I am very distressed about the telephone conversation. She was absolutely useless and was not helpful and did not try to resolve the problem. She further admitted that Jetstar did lose our baggage and was not going to take responsibility for it.

My rights are expressly reserved.

Vietnam Opening Up and News Updates | Travel Restrictions Lifted 2022

As we gladly see the back of Covid, many of us have started to plan out our upcoming travels. Many countries have opened their borders to tourism and independent travellers however flight schedules have been slower to catch up and many of the old flight routes that we knew have not resumed operation.

Vietnam has officially opened up as of 16 March 2022 to tourism and travellers can now enter the country on a 30-day visa but it hasn’t been easy to obtain accurate and official information from the Vietnamese government. The best resource I’ve found so far is Vietnam Briefing, which although is privately run, does offer quite accurate and up-to-date information about travel news and visa situations for Vietnam:-

https://www.vietnam-briefing.com/news/covid-19-vietnam-travel-updates-restrictions.html

Although, Ho Chi Minh and Ha Noi are the key locations that visitors will visit, there are many other places in Vietnam that are, in my opinion, more beautiful and interesting than the big cities. Amongst these lesser destinations are places like Da Lat, Da Nang, Hue City, Nha Trang and Ha Long Bay; all of these rarely receive the coverage that they deserve.

Bradley Williams has a very interesting personal blog about Da Lat and unlike the commercial and often fake information you get on Tripadvisor; this blog actually shows you the real deal:-

https://www.dreambigtravelfarblog.com/blog/best-things-to-do-in-da-lat

This blog is really interesting and I really like the “realness” of the accounts and pictures that haven’t been photoshopped.

This is an interesting retreat is privately run which is a real get-away kind of retreat.

https://spapure.vn/first-villa-debuts-at-exclusive-development-in-dalat/

In Da Nang, there are some really interesting manufacturers of local produce using ingredients from Vietnam. A newly-launch brand with home-made XO sauce, snacks and ready to cook food is called Hey Hey:-

https://www.heyheyfoods.com/

Another that deserves a mention is called the Biltong Masters or now renamed to the MEAT Company

https://www.meat-co.net/

If you are looking to rent an apartment or a short-stay or property in Da Nang, this independent website called OneDay is great:-

https://www.oneday.com.vn/en_VN/residential/vietnam-to-rent/da-nang-city/

Olivia’s Prime Steakhouse is another great place to visit if you fancy a juicy steak in Da Nang:-

https://oliviasprime.com

There is a treasure trove of things to do and places to visit in Vietnam; to see the whole country would take and if time permits the most romantic and relaxing way to travel is by train because there is a North-South train that takes you from one end of the country to the other; here is some more information about that:-

https://www.vietnamonline.com/transport/north-south-express-train.html

Flying to Hong Kong During Covid September 2021 | What to Expect?

We just flew back from the UK to Hong Kong to face a 21 day quarantine in a small hotel room.

Leaving UK.

BA suggested going 5 hours early so it was quite easy. Checking in at airport took about an hour and a half.

We had lounge passes so had a good few glasses of wine and late lunch to while away a couple of hours.

The main thing is to have hard copies of all your docs as you will need them at check-in and again at boarding. You will need copies to prove your vaccinations (print from iAMsmart app or ehealth app), printed proof of Covid test and fit to fly certificate to be done up to 72 hrs before flying. We did ours the day before flying and took the rapid 3 hr test (costs more but available in 3 hrs) or if not the rapid test it takes up to 48hrs so you would need to book your test 72 hrs before flying to be safe. Make sure you use the before departure recommended companies on the airlines website and make sure the test provider offer the fit to fly certification as not all of them do. We used Collinson. There are some that may have a clinic in Bath so check the airlines list of providers.

You also need a printed copy of your confirmation of hotel stay also confirming it has been paid for. Once you have your Covid results you need to do an online declaration form for HK which can only be completed once you have your airline seat numbers confirmed and details of the UK Covid test result. You should take a QR code save of the declaration and keep a screenshot of it in your photos (you will require it several times in the post landing process once in HK). Also print it out for proof of completion as part of your document pack although the invigilator at the airport may not require it.

From 24 hrs before departure you can complete an online pre check-in which is meant to facilitate the clearance process. That was for BA so not sure what it is for Cathay and other airlines. In the online process, if you have a clean set of PDF copies of all the above documents which can be uploaded as prompted during the online process, you can possibly go straight through the check-in if you receive a confirmation email from your airline (all of it needs to be at pre check-in at a point within 24 hours of flying) although we received an email to say our fit to fly form didn’t have the schedule of authorised certifiers (we had the lot but think it may have been a robot scanning the docs filed online and only picked up page 1 of 3) and also didn’t have a paid confirmation on our hotel booking so the return email said we needed to do a physical check-in process in any event. I think they do that to capture as much data online as possible and the at airport process is a secondary tick box exercise as a further check in control.

Arrival in HK

Good flight home and on time.

Lots of walking very regulated and efficient flow through to take the train to the 200-230 flights section for further transfer and walk with Declaration checks (QR coded and saved on your phone so make sure you have a well charged battery – suggest you charge your phone on the flight) at start of the Long March and at the end of the Long March.

Continued shuffling by cadres in blue with masks and face shields and eventually QR coded declaration required. Go to a panel of blue cards again who read the quarantine riot act and give you a quarantine pack and your quarantine identification QR coded paper to be held for the three week sentence to match your serial number for the forthcoming umpteenth Covid test. You have a lovely red lanyard as a card carrier with your serial number and another cadre who assigns you a seat number for you to enjoy the wait post your test. Then further shuffling and train track barrier channellers/cadres directing you to pick up your test kit and waving cadres still in blue with masks and head shield directing you to your starting seat for the big test.

Once you endure the two minute test on your tonsils (or where they used to be) and up your nose you are free for a further shuffle to find your designated seat (written on the back of the lanyard tag (green which is obviously for go) with your sentencing serial number to wait for 3 hours for your result (don’t do what I did and simply find a window seat with a gorgeous view over the tarmac- until my better half found me and suggested I needed to be put in my place). Before you look for your one seat in around 2000 to sit down you pass another set of blue clothed cadres with mask and face shield who give you a choice of three stale prepacked sandwiches (standard cheese and ham or turkey and stale Branson pickle or yukkie veg), biscuits and bottled water.

Then you get the result you should expect (how often are you waiting to be classified as a negative) unless you are one of perhaps three positive people who land that particular day, in which case you are announced by country of birth and status of where you live in HK on the news in the evening.

Then shuffled to the carousel to pick up your luggage which has been neatly packed in groups and waiting for you for the past hour.

Then further shuffling to a counter to show your quarantine QR coded paper and given a tag for each bag and shuffled to the queue to await your coach which will take you to the bowels of one of 4 or 5 hotels on the route which is the one you signed up for your sentence. Once again show your QR quarantine page and once again you are read the riot act about agreeing to not be seen, not touch anyone, and only pick up your food for brekkie, lunch and dinner placed on your ottoman outside your door. They also deliver provisions like donations delivered to the hotel reception for onward delivery to your ottoman such as Nespresso machines and pods, your helper providing real plates, cutlery, pepper, salt, soy sauce, dill pickles, munchies and all the things that we untouchables enjoy.

In all it took 5 hours from landing to be in our Porridge cell.

However, all very efficient nevertheless.

Settling into Da Nang City, Vietnam

For those who have been to Da Nang city will know what a magical place this is. The city itself is like no other cities in Vietnam, for starters it has no traffic jams; to the east of the city is a 50km stretch of the most beautiful beach in the world and the city itself is separated by the Han river which has a number of very trendy bars and restaurants looking over it.

Here are some restaurants worth visiting in Da Nang:-

My Casa

Italian / Spanish Cuisine

Shake em Buns

Best Burgers in Da Nang

Cook Shop

Good Value Western-style cuisine

For those who are staying a little bit longer in the city and have a need to cook, a good grocery shop is MoonMilk

Good Value Grocery Shop

Hoi An which is about a 45 minute drive from Da Nang city is a great day trip destination; the place is resplendent and is definitely worth a visit if time permits. Staying overnight is highly recommended too.

This is a short video driving along the coast of Da Nang up to the lady Buddha:-

For those looking for Musical Instruments, Pianos and Grand Pianos.

Piano Shop in Da Nang

In addition to Tourism, Da Nang is fast becoming a technology hub and a number of Hi-tech outfits is growing rapidly. If you want to stay longer in this city and have programming skills then you can apply to one of the big software companies like FPT and Hodfords.

Although in the last year or so, the city has experienced a number of lockdowns due to the Covid-19 outbreaks; the situation so far has been quite well managed and the government has been relatively successful at keeping the virus from entering the country.

Once things clear up this is definitely a city you need to travel to if you haven’t already been here.

Hong Kong’s Hidden Gem : Sai Kung

One of Hong Kong’s little unknown secrets is Sai Kung; which offers some of the most spectacular country landscape in the world. Its country park has some of the best walks and trails for all ages and experience. The preservation of the area has been done well and unlike the rest of the Hong Kong, it is still relatively unscathed by the bulldozers that are all-too-ready to erect another 50 storey residential building.

Sai Kung Country Park

The most famous trail is of course the MacleHose one (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacLehose_Trail) which is simply resplendent; the scenery that you will see on this walk is breath-taking. The above picture gives the viewer an idea of the splendour on offer in Sai Kung; the waters off its coast are also least polluted as the effluence of the pearl river delta comes out of an estuary far away Sai Kung.

Discover Hong Kong has compiled a concise guide to Sai Kung which covers all of the attractions in and around Sai Kung that any visitor of Hong Kong should experience.

https://www.discoverhongkong.com/content/dam/dhk/intl/plan/traveller-info/e-guidebooks/sai-kung-walking-guide-en.pdf

For expats who have not discovered Sai Kung, this is certainly a district to consider if you are looking for a peaceful area to bring up the family. It is about 40 minutes drive to Central and offers some lovely houses and properties that enjoy the benefits of suburbs such as a some great sea views, cleaner air and lots of greenery. There are some great eateries to choose from with a sea front promenade where some of the best seafood can be found and just around the corner to that there are some pubs where you can enjoy a pint of ale or two.

There is an estate agent with a good reputation in Sai Kung called Eastmount Property (https://www.eastmount.com.hk/) who can help you find a suitable house or apartment for those wishing to re-locate to Sai Kung. There is also some property portals such OneDay that offer a selection of properties (https://www.oneday.com.hk/en_US/residential/hong-kong-to-rent/sai-kung/sai-kung2/) for the Sai Kung area.

The seafood restaurant that is famous is called 香港西貢全記海鮮 and it might be easier to give that name to a taxi driver because everyone know this place. Here are some pictures that may whet your appetite. http://blog.sina.com.tw/julie168/article.php?entryid=609639

Special Travel into Vietnam during Covid-19

Prologue
This article is intended for travellers to Vietnam during Covid-19 when there is a scarcity of flights and entry into the country as a tourist is completely non-existent. This is based on a first hand experience of a traveller who managed to get into the country (via Hanoi) as an investor on the 12 January 2021, things may be different in the future and the procedures might differ from airport to airport.

In the last 6 months, Vietnam has not issued a single tourist visa; only in the last month or so have they started to allow foreign investors or foreigners with businesses in Vietnam or those with specialised skills into the country. I have a registered company in Da Nang and a work permit (but no Residence Card) so was able to obtain an official invitation letter through my agent (Lyn Visa) that made me eligible for travel into the country.

Flights
If you were able to overcome the first hurdle of getting an agent who could get you an invitation letter your next challenge would be getting on an aeroplane to your city. Each invitation letter will clearly state the port of entry and you cannot deviate from that; fortunately for me the agent also arranged the flights, quarantine hotel and the special vehicle that escorts you from the airport to the hotel. The service is by no means cheap.

The flight I was put on was a special chartered flight that transitted through Hong Kong from China and there was only 4-5 people boarding from Hong Kong. When we reached the Hong Kong Airlines check-in desk they were not even aware of our existence and that there were passengers boarding from Hong Kong. After much back and forth along with a few disgruntled travellers and I brandishing our e-Flight tickets to the counter staff were we able to proceed with the check-in process.

Since we were a chartered flight the airport tax was not included in the flight tickets so each person had to pay HK$ 120 in cash moreover although my e-ticket indicated that I could take 35Kg of luggage with me that allowance had to be one single piece of luggage rather than 2 suitcases so I ended up paying another HK$ 290 for the excess luggage.

You could be see the counter staff desperately communicating with somebody higher up about how to deal with our case and after much trepidation, I was finally issued a boarding pass and allowed to process to boarding.

Being the last-minute person that I am I only arrived at the airport around an hour or so before take off which in hindsight was slightly dangerous so I urge others to get to the airport in good time in case of unforeseen events springing on you.

Airport Security
Airport security had never been more of a breeze. I was the only person going through and was tended to by coterie of overly helpful staff and I must admit I had never been able to get through airport security so quickly in my life so things weren’t all bad.

Boarding
As I neared my boarding gate I saw an increasing number of people milling around in turquoise Hazmat suits; first I thought these were medical staff brought in from Vietnam to check that all travellers were fit and healthy to board the flight but later I discovered that they were just overly-zealous travellers from mainland China.

Upon Arrival
After disembarking you will walk towards the immigration department and at some point you will required to present the test report showing that you don’t have Covid-19; the health person just glanced at mine and waved me on. After that you will reach an area (this is the Hanoi airport) where there are immigration counters and a section where you can obtain Visas. I will write about what I did but a fellow traveller did something quite different and still got through. In terms of the process:- Queue up at the Visa issuance counter and when you get to it, hand them your passport, invitation letter, the Covid-19 test results and the Pre-filled Entry Form along with 2 recent photos. After they accept your documents they will tell you to sit down and wait for your name to be called up; if you are successful they will give you back your passport with a visa issued which takes up an entire page of your passport.

Hanoi airport during covid19 | travel restrictions

Hanoi airport covid19

People milling around not knowing what is going

After this, you can queue up at the immigration counter and they will stamp your passport but they will keep hold of it and motion you to the luggage reclaim area. After getting your luggage, you can just sit quietly somewhere even though nobody seems to know what is going on; because eventually they will process flight by flight but this will only happen once everyone has collected their luggage so at this point just wait patiently.

Before getting on the special vehicle that takes you to the hotel you will be given a Hazmut suit that you will have to don. The immigration department personnel will verify your identity and then give your passport to a specialised person who will escort you to the hotel.

After getting to the hotel, you will have an opportunity to take off the Hazmut suit and chuck it in a designated bin and the specialised person will give your passport to somebody at the hotel and you will will be escorted to your room.

Good luck and safe travels.

Things To Bring

Certificate to show that you don’t have Covid-19
Invitation Letter
Flight eTicket
4 recent passport photos (I was not aware of this)
Bring US dollar cash (3-months visa costs US$ 25 in cash – credit cards are not accepted) have lots of US$ 1 bills that you can give to staff in the hotel who may be able to help you buy things from outside the hotel…..Forget about trying to money out using the ATM upon arrival which is what I used to do… I brought with me US$ 300 just in case
Bring HK dollar cash with you – since you don’t know what fees the airport might charge
Fill out the Entry Form before hand so you don’t have to faff around looking for the form, something to write with and a surface to write on

Things to Bring (For the hotel)

A mug/cup that you can drink your morning coffee or tea from – in my hotel room there are only these floppy paper cups which I hate
A supply of tea / coffee that you like – I have been given a sumptious supply of this 3-in-1 coffee powder which I will forego on
Basic toiletries (shampoo, tooth brush, etc)
Socket adaptor(s) – if you are coming from the UK, Hong Kong or anywhere else – our plugs don’t fit into the sockets in Vietnam
Bring lots of wine, whiskey or whatever you like to drink because when I arrived late at night customs wasn’t even open