If you're arriving in Soekarno–Hatta International Airport, there are many options on travelling to the city. My favourite is to hop on a Blue Bird taxi. It's affordable, safe and comfortable.

However, for first-timers in Jakarta, getting a Blue Bird taxi might be confusing. So here's how you can ease through the airport and hop on the taxi to your hotel in a budget yet comfortable way.

Upon leaving the arrival hall, you will see some booths on your right for taxi companies. You would be tempted but I wouldn't recommend them as they tend to be twice the cost of a normal taxi you might get.

To your front, you will see a lot of people waiting by the railings. Turn left and exit the building before the crowd. You'll see a lot more people waiting around outside too. Ignore all of them and just continue walking. You would walk past the toilets and just continue going that direction. There would be a lot of people approaching you, asking if you want a taxi. Just continue walking.

Look out for a kiosk. The kiosk will be a distance away from the Blue Bird taxi queue. On the kiosk, you'll see two buttons. Click on the Blue Bird taxi and get your queue number.

There will be a guy in the Blue Bird uniform calling out numbers for the taxis. Walk towards him and standby. There is also a TV with the queue numbers but when I was there, it was not working.

Once your number is called, wave your queue number at the guy in uniform and he will escort you into the taxi.

My taxi cost only 160,000 out from the airport to the city center, inclusive of tolls and airport charges. Half the price of what my friend got from one of the guys in the airport.

Today marks the one month’s into my first UX job. I dived into UX immediately after graduating with a bachelor in Psychology. Within this month, I’ve had so many people asking me what exactly am I doing and how is this relevant or related to what I’ve studied. Eventually, I grew exhausted from answering these questions and I even came up with a standardised answer.

“Psychology is the study of human behaviour, attitudes, and emotions. UX is all about understanding the cognitive and perceptive capabilities and limitations of humans and applying these knowledge into designing systems and environments to complement the capabilities and limitations of humans.”

This week’s topic would further explore why I got into UX and how relevant Psychology can be in UX.

Firstly, what is UX?

UX, short for user experience, is all about the behaviours, attitudes, and emotions about the interaction with a product, service, or environment. It all began when Don Norman, a computer scientist and cognitive researcher, came up with the term user-centered design.

I took up Human Factors Psychology as a course module while I was still doing my Psychology Diploma in Temasek Polytechnic. I never really thought much of it initially but at the end of the course, I found myself in love with Human Factors Psychology. Eventually, I took on an internship with NUS HCI Lab and that really ignited the passion.

In UX, we use applied psychlogy, which is the use of psychological concepts and methods to solve practical problems of human behaviour and experience. Psychology concepts and theories can be applied into almost anything, from organisational behaviour, to even designing technology and engineering.

I enjoyed the applicability of what I’ve learnt in my academic years and the more I got into UX, the more I realised how relevant Psychology was to UX. The skills I’ve picked up in Psychology, such as qualitative research and cognitive psychology, were extremely useful in UX. I was also glad I could apply these knowledge into something besides writing theses and dissertations.

Cognitive Psychology is all about the study of mental processes such as human memory, perception, decision making processes and thinking. In UX, the ability to understand humans’ cognitive abilities is essential when developing a system, environment, or experience for humans. With a better understanding, we can develop something that does not strain on the cognitive abilities and also to reduce humans’ cognitive load.

Moreover, UX is all about understanding the users, and as a Psychology graduate, humans intrigue me and I’ve always wanted to understand more about humans, their behaviours and thought processes. Naturally, I felt a connection with UX as it allowed me to get into the minds of users and understand their behaviours and thoughts.

Active listening and empathy are skills that are very useful (some may say it’s a requirement). These are skills we, Psychology graduates, develop. We always empathize and put ourselves into the shoes of others. We listen to people talk about their lives, their experiences and not be judgmental. This is exactly what a UX professional does. As a UX professional, we often have to try to see things in the users’ perspectives and apply listening techniques when talking to users.

While Psychology is quite relevant to UX, not many in Psychology in Singapore do venture into UX. There is still a lack of awareness of how relevant Psychology can be to UX. I really do hope this blog can inspire more Psychology graduates to take on more applied roles and join me in the dark side, UX.

I travel leisurely frequently and people are often asking me how I get the money to continue this hobby. Here's the secret, I'm always getting the cheap deals and travel on a budget. For example, my return flight to Sydney/Gold Coast only cost me $375. My Osaka hotel accommodation was less than $25/pax/night.

I'm going to share some of the tips to travel on a budget (because we are all students here!)

Cheap flight

Cheap hotel

I booked a lot of my hotels with Agoda (or used to till I had a bad service experience with them). I've been using Expedia since because of their exceptional service and experience. Expedia is great because they help secure the cheapest prices. Haven't had any problems with Expedia!

There's another option to cheap to hotels - hostels. I love hostels, especially when I'm on the road in Europe. They're cheap and hip. Booking.com and Hostel world are perfect sites to look for cheap hostels and I've used them way too many times when I was in Europe.

Another option is to go for home stay aka airbnb. They can be pretty cheap, and there are some hits and misses with airbnb. My only advice is to read the comments very carefully. I actually prefer going with airbnb in Australia but when I'm in Asia, I would stay away from airbnb.

Offline Maps

If you do not have a mobile data connection, it may seem like it's going to be very difficult to navigate your way around. You wouldn't be able to find wifi anywhere either. When I was in Tasmania, I had poor connectivity because I'm always out in the mountains. That's when offline maps come in handy.

I adore the app maps.me and it allows me to download maps in advance so I don't have to worry about them not loading when I'm overseas. If it rings a bell, that's because I've mentioned about maps.me before in my other posts. You can also use Google Maps to save an offline map so you'll be able to use it without connectivity.

Do you know that you can actually use GPS without data connection? Simply make sure you have GPS turned on and it'll work without incurring costs!

Plan

A great way to save money while travelling is to plan well. Why do you need a good plan? Because there are early bird promotions, especially when you get accommodation or transportation deals.

If you're planning to travel by HSR in Taiwan, booking early saves you money. If you're travelling to Japan, you might want to calculate if a JR pass is worth the money. It can actually save you money if you plan to do a lot of travelling around.

Therefore planning your route before hand may be a wise idea. Planning in advance also allows you to better understand the area you're going. You can easily find cheaper alternatives when you're planning rigorously.

Save with Rebates

The last hack I'll be sharing will be the use of rebates.

Shopback allows you to get rebates from making online purchases. They have a long list of partners ranging from Expedia, Agoda, Booking.com, HostelWorld, Jetstar, Tigerair, Singapore Airlines, and so many more. The rebate amount depends on each partner site.

I've saved so much from Shopback just from booking my accommodation and flights. So here's how you can go about doing so.

Firstly, create a new account using the referral link!
After signing up, you're ready to start saving! Whenever you want to shop at a certain site, simply go into ShopBack first. Look for your site from the long list of partners they have (or simply use the search function). Click Shop Now and you'll be given some terms and conditions and a notice that you have to stay on the same window while making the purchase. You'll be redirected to the site of your intention and you can begin making your purchases! Again, I emphasize on staying on the same window whole making the purchase.

The rebate is not immediate (as how credit card rebates are not either). Thus, be patient and you'll be able to see that your transaction is pending after a couple of hours.

After the money is in (the days differ between different partners), you can cash out your money! Kaching!

It's simple as that! And here's the extra catch! If you sign up using my link, you'll get a $5 immediately which you can cash out together with your first cash out. That's  $5 just for signing up an account!

https://www.shopback.sg/?raf=QYoCbl

So these are 5 tips I use when travelling to save money and I hope you find them useful!

Periods.

We all know the struggles. We all hate periods. It's the time of the month when you just wanna hide under the sheets and not move.

In the old days, pads never existed. Women have to make their own "pads". It's made off a plastic sheet that is pretty much shaped like our pads these days. The plastic material will prevent spillage onto the garments. A paper-like material will be sewn onto the plastic sheet to help in the absorption. And women would just tie the plastic sheet onto them.

And then we have sanitary pads. Absorbent and thin. I have no complaints with sanitary pads except on heavy days when I have to wear really thick ones that made me feel like I'm wearing a diaper.

I bought myself a menstrual cup recently, after months and months and years of deliberation. I've read about menstrual cups and was always curious about it. When we were kids going through puberty lessons, nobody mentioned about menstrual cups. It was always sanitary pads, or tampons.

So what's a menstrual cup?

A menstrual cup is normally made of silicone and shaped like a bell. It is to be worn inside and it captures fluids. It's reusable and can be worn overnight and in the day.

There are many brands of menstrual cup but I'm using Mooncup and loving it to bits. There has been a kickstarter on Looncup which basically contains a sensor to let you know when the cup is going to be filled, which is a brilliant idea imo. Why didn't I come up with the idea first?

How do you use it?

There are two ways of inserting it in. You can either fold it into a u-shape or fold the top inwards. I usually fold it inwards but it's up to individual's preferences. It takes some getting used to it but I've realised that the cup generally fits itself comfortably. All I did was just to push it in and the moment it flaps open, I'll just leave it where it is and it'll find its own comfort spot.

Always wash your hands before using the cup. The instructions state to boil the cup before the first use. I like to boil it after every cycle to keep it clean.

I only have one cup so whenever I'm in the washroom, I'll take it out to give it a rinse. No issues there. Is it difficult to take it out? A little. It took me quite a while to finally master the skill because of the suction the cup has.

How's it like using a menstrual cup?

It took me 2 cycles to get used to using the Mooncup. There's a steep learning curve but once you get the hang of it, you'll never look back.

There is hardly any feel when you are wearing the Mooncup. Sometimes, I forget that I'm on my period and that I'm wearing it. Happens a lot more often when I'm just about waking up.

What are the benefits?

1. It's really comfortable and you don't feel a thing. Pads are just really annoying and uncomfortable.

2. It allows you to swim. I've went into the sea with it and its's perfectly fine.

3. It doesn't leak. I'm always afraid it will leak but apparently, once you master how to insert it properly, it's leak proof.

4. It's environmentally-friendly. It's reusable which means it reduces the amount of waste (pads) you throw away after each use.

5. It's money-saving. As it's reusable, it'll be a lot more affordable in the long run as compared to buying pads.

Will you go back to using a pad?

No.

I read a review on a lady who talked about how the cup changed her perception of periods entirely. It felt a little exaggerated because it doesn't seem to be powerful enough to change one's negative perception of periods into a positive experience. However, after using it, I finally understood what she meant.

It's a far cry to say it made me change my perception of periods into positive but it certainly removed the dreadfulness of periods.

I would highly recommend ladies to switch over to the cup.

I love London. It's a cultural melting pot. And that makes the food in London amazing because you can get all kinds of food in this city. However, it can be pricey to eat in London but here are some of the better deals and food you can get in this beautiful city.

The Breakfast Club

33 D'Arblay Street The Breakfast Club is so popular among tourists that you have to queue for at least an hour and half to get a table. On the both occasions when I visited the branch in Soho, the service was quick. However, the interior is really small and cramped, which might have contributed to the long queues. The food was good. It’s the perfect way to start a weekend morning. However, I wouldn't queue another hour and half for the place again. Once is enough.

Flat Iron

17 Beak Street
Another place in Soho. A good friend of mine recommended this place. The deal with this place is that they serve pretty good steak for only £10. £10 may not be really cheap when you convert it into Singapore currency but it's going to be hard to find a place this decent to beat the price.

Patty and Bun

54 James Street I visited this place on two occasions. It's just right outside Liverpool station which makes it really convenient. The place is really tiny but they serve up really delicious burgers. I've heard of the long queues forming outside this place but on both occasions, I must have been really lucky. They also have a vegetarian option on the menu.

Four Seasons

12 Gerrard St | 84 Queensway
The only Asian food on this list. Famous of their roast duck, it has been crowned "Best Roast Duck in the world". I get that Singaporeans don't really opt for Asian food when they're overseas in an angmoh country. However, after a week of travelling, our Asian mouths were dying and screaming for some rice. A fellow Singaporean recommended this place to us.

They actually have two branches in Chinatown itself which we went to one day after another. That was how good it was, or rather we really missed rice. During my 5 months stay in London, I also visited the other branch in Bayswater, which was within walking distance from the station.

They've recently opened a branch in Singapore so I guess you can always give this a miss if you're on a tight schedule. However, if you are ever craving for some Asian food, keep this place at the back of your heads.

Burger & Lobster

Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge | 36-38 Dean Street Keeping the best for the last. If you can only have one meal in London, this is it. The highly raved Burger & Lobster serves only 3 dishes. Lobster (grilled or steamed), lobster roll, and a burger. Each costing £20. What? That's almost $42! Hold your horses. You'll have to understand in London, £20 is the norm for a meal in London. So instead of spending it on any other meal, why not eat a lobster? Besides, a lobster meal at Pince and Pints cost a lot more than £20.

Be prepared to wait really really long for this place. If you don't want to wait, come before the dinner crowd. Also, avoid the branch in Soho because that's going to be really crowded. I would personally recommend the steamed lobster over the grilled because it's juicer.

There are four Johnny's Shop in Japan (Tokyo (Harajuku), Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka). You can look up the addresses from their website.

During my Japan trip, I visited the Osaka's Johnny's Shop branch. The new branch was recently relocated near Umeda Station.

They are only open from 10am - 6.30pm so it was really difficult to squeeze out time to visit the shop because that's when I'll be out sightseeing. However, since I was living in a hotel just across the street so it was pretty convenient for me to pop by the shop.
I dropped by the place at 5pm and it was empty. Maybe just a handful of us in there.    The security guard guided me to the door because the silly me couldn't find it. You'll have to climb a flight of stairs up into the store. Upon entering, you'll face rows and rows of photos. Arashi, SMAP, Tokio, V6, Kinki Kids, Kis-My-Ft2, KAT-TUN, NEWS, Hey! Say! JUMP, Kanjani8, A.B.C-Z...

Everything was in Japanese there so I wanted to ask the lady for help. Unfortunately, the shop helper couldn't really speak English either. I was left to fend for myself.

After you have selected your photos, you head downstairs to make your payment. They may also sell some leftover merchandise and I got myself a Yuto umbrella charm.

I left feeling really weird about the entire experience. It was bizarre but it could be because I don't particularly keep myself updated with them anymore.

I am currently on a school exchange program. I am really grateful for this program as I have always wanted to study abroad. I have been out of Singapore for more than a month now and there's not a moment that I don't enjoy being here in the UK. Studying abroad allows you to be in a new country, experience a different culture, climate, and meet new people.

I'll be writing a series of Studying Abroad for a Semester posts in the meanwhile, along with occasional travel blogs.

So the first post of the Studying Abroad for a Semester series - Before applying to study abroad for a semester, there are some essential points to note.

Firstly, there are different kinds of exchange programs that the school offers. The one I went was with GEM Explorer, which was a program allowing you to study at the school's partner universities for a semester. The GEM Discoverer, is another program that places students overseas either to work or to work and study. There's also the Summer Exchange Program which allows students to spend their summer holidays overseas, clearing some courses.

The mentioned ones are exchange programs that are managed by the school. However, you can also always fee-pay to a school of your choice to study abroad. In this situation, you'll have to do the liaising with the abroad school of choice, while students on the school exchange programs have the school office to settle the administrative issues.

Both methods are extremely popular among students. Most of the time, students intending to study abroad in Taiwan or Korea will apply for fee-paying as the abroad school fees are significantly less than Singapore's school fees.

The school exchange program application window opens on the first few weeks of the semester. Look out for emails by the GEM office as they'll always send out the list of schools available for student exchange, along with the vacancy. It is always wise to research on the list of schools before applying, just so to ensure that you actually have courses to match. Course matching is a chore and we'll get to that later.

The vacancy list is what you should look at before you make your decision. A higher number of vacancy places will ensure your chances of securing the spot. How the system works is that they give priority to senior students for exchange spots. The allocation is based on your cGPA, so a higher cGPA equates to a higher chance of getting the exchange.

If you notice the vacancies, there are some schools that are exclusive to a course (eg: NBS, SPMS) and there are other schools that are open to ALL. Basically, a school that is opened to ALL will try to accept students of different specializations. For example, University A only has 10 spots available, and 10 NBS and 10 SPMS students applied for it. Even if all the SPMS students have a higher cGPA than the other NBS students, they'll have to even the distribution to 5 NBS and 5 SPMS.

After choosing the schools that you're interested in, you'll have to ensure that you can match courses with the host university. A quick method is to log on to intu > studentlink > academic matters > student exchange > course finder.

You'll be able to search up any university and see what previous students have matched the courses with. This is a great help as you'll have a rough idea on what is allowed and what is not when matching your courses.

When it comes to applying for your university, do keep an eye on the updated list of applied students. You'll get to see how many students applied for the university of your choice. This is a very good gauge for you to estimate your chances of success and to plan strategically.

Even if you do not get any in the first round, there is always a second round and I do know of people who manage to get into their first choice in the second round!

Good luck!

This is an updated version as compared to my previous Bangkok post. I returned to the shopping paradise in January 2014 for a 7 day stay. You can never get sick of that place. The food, the people, and best of all, the shopping that's available.

Platinum Mall

Pratunam

Chatuchak

Union Mall

Siam Square

Asiatique

In a couple of days time, I'll be turning 21 years old.

They say that's the coming of age for most people. And turning 21 is a legit excuse to splurge your money and throw an awesome party. Invite all your friends, party and drink the night away. After all, you only get a chance like this in your entire life.

So that's what I did. I threw a birthday party for my 21st. Well, I had to throw it two weeks earlier than my supposed birthday since my birthday falls right before the exams.



I realised throwing a party wasn't such an easy job. There was a hell of work to be done. Well, I'm not famous or anything so unlike many of the bloggers out there who managed to get their party sponsored, I only had my parents to sponsor me. And I'm very grateful for their support.

Most Singaporeans would go for a chalet, or a hotel room. I've been to parties hosted in a chalet, hotel room, condo's function room, one's own house, and even in a room in school. Personally, I think the venue is extremely important because it creates the mood of the party.

Well, my birthday party was held at Evans Lounge, 80 capacity. I even booked the gazebo, which meant my guests could hang around outside too. It was a huge venue, which meant all my friends sat comfortably in their own group of friends and had sufficient space to move about.

I made this horrible mistake for selecting a venue that was pretty much inaccessible. It was out of the way and the fastest way to get there was to drive in, which was not too bad considering I do have a couple of friends who drove there. But I guess, if your friends really wanted to be there, the location would  not have mattered.

Here's some photos of the venue.


It was really huge with a lot of empty spaces. So I made use of it and got a lot of decorations to put up. I do not have a clear empty photo of all the decorations I've put up. But here's the closest I could find, with all the decorations at the back. And I even pushed some furniture to the empty side of the lounge so it does not look too empty.



The lounge even came with a stage. Which was the plus point because it meant I could hold my cake cutting there. And it also meant I have microphones and could even invite a jam band over to perform. Well, I didn't though.


I've transformed the stage into this!


And the gazebo! Since food wasn't allowed in the lounge, we had to book the gazebo to place the food for the guests. It added a really nice nature touch to the entire party too and guests can roam outside.



So we placed the food outside :)


As my venue was huge, I needed to get a lot of decorations to make the venue really sweet and nice.

I stuck to a colour theme, red, gold, silver. I know they're so cheerleader colours but they are my favourite colours. I got balloons of the colours, streamers, stars to hang around, and even the wordings for are according to the colour theme.


I personally think balloons really lifted the party mood because it occupies a lot of space and it's often associated with parties. They make good wall decorations too.


I learnt my lesson from all the previous birthday parties I attended. You should always get more help for decorations because it's going to take a long time to get all the decorations up, especially if you haven't prepared them before hand. And balloons will take a long time to blow them up so a lot of help would be appreciated.

I had my family, relatives, and close friends coming to the venue early to put up the decorations. And I'm really grateful for them because they managed to get all the decorations up before the guests arrive.

I had a "Candy" theme for my birthday so I wanted a desserts table with lots of candies and sweet stuff. So I had a chocolate fondue for my guests. I even ordered a lot of deserts (but we'll leave the food for later).


And making use of the environment's resources, I drew up a sign to place it outside the venue to direct the guests in.


Food is the most important thing and that's where most of your money would have went to.

The food is so important that I believe it can make or break your party. A party with insufficient food for the guests is just a disappointment. You can't expect your guests to come all the way to your party and spend a bomb on your present, and there isn't enough food for them to eat. I've been to a party where there wasn't any food left except some rice and noodles. It was really disappointing because I was starving by the time I reached the party. Well, of course too much food might not be a good thing too. I had so much leftovers from my party. But at least everyone's well fed.


I've been to parties where the food was not appetizing. So there were guests who didn't really eat much of the food. And that probably left a lasting image because when people asked me how was the party or event, the first thing that comes to people's mind would be how good or bad the food tasted.

I figured finger food worked best for parties. People will be more likely to take finger food to eat. Food like curry chicken would make it so difficult for the guests to eat. And there's a higher chance of you dirtying your dress!


I ordered a total of 2 staple food, 5 dishes, 3 desserts, and 2 beverages. The reason why I had more desserts was because my theme was "Candy" and it's only right to have more desserts and sweet items for the party. I've received many compliments for the choice of food and one of them came up to me and said he really liked the fried mee siam.

In case you're wondering where I got my food from, it's from Elsie's Kitchen. This is clearly not a sponsored caterer but I do have to say my mother is a loyal fan of Elsie's Kitchen and she was the one who recommended me to it. Unfortunately, the food came in a little late (an hour later than requested) but I guess I'll give some allowance considering that it rained and the venue was hard to find. However, I do understand from other experiences with Elsie's Kitchen, they were never late so I'll take this as a one-off mistake.

Next, the birthday cake! A 21st birthday cake can be an excuse to have a really special cake! You may even go for cupcakes like many of my friends have opted for!


I got mine from Bengawan Solo. Surprise surprise! Many of my friends were so amazed by the beauty of the cake that it's hard to believe a conventional bakery would have such lovely cakes. But yes, they do.

I tried searching for other 3D cake designs from blogshops but the price they quoted me was so much pricier than Bengawan Solo. Of course it was much more customized to order from blogshops. I guess, it's really up to you.


Thank you everyone who came and everyone who made this party a success!