PayPal Sucks!!!

I received the message "This transaction cannot be completed." when I tried to send money.

I have sufficient fund in my debit card, plus I have also lifted my sending limit. What is wrong with PayPal?? So I checked the forum to see if there are others who are faced with the same problems. Apparently this problem has been around since Dec 2010 and has yet to be resolved!! TWO YEARS already, for goodness sake!!! Anyway someone wrote in and got the following reply.


"It shows that the reason why you were not able to complete the transaction is because of PayPal's security model that is in place to help prevent fraud and protect your money. What happens is that for every transaction that takes place in the PayPal system, we have an internal security model that identifies patterns of behavior. This is similar to the way banks and credit card companies identify patterns of behavior when approving individual transactions.

It does not look at you, your credit or your seller individually. It just looks at the transaction from a pure statistical basis. When our system does not allow a certain funding source for a transaction, it is merely an indication that the individual transaction fits a pattern that is observed to have potential problems attached to it.

For everyone’s protection, we do not have way of turning this off since it is a self-regulating program. As such, kindly try to send your payment on a later time, or contact your seller and make the payment outside of PayPal. I know it is not the best answer for you now, but the protection that it gives you really is for the best."

What a great excuse. If the system mistakes genuine transactions for scam on such a regular basis, shouldn't the programmers fix the problem or discard the whole system entirely? Even after the user has confirmed that the transaction is not a fraud, the admin still could not do anything or refuse to do anything. They left this problem unresolved for 2 years and are asking users to bear with it or to use another funding source. I find this extremely ridiculous since most people only have one credit card and it is way too troublesome to get a 2nd credit card. Even after you have added a 2nd card, chances are the same problem will still occur for the new card and there is no way out of it.

So my advice is STOP USING PAYPAL, or at least, STOP THINKING THAT PAYPAL IS GREAT when it is nothing but CRAP!!

7 days in Bali

Overview
My friends and I stayed in Kuta for 3 nights, followed by 3 nights in Ubud. We also hired drivers to take us around Bali as most of the tourist attractions are far from town. I will try my very best to include all the miscellaneous expenses in our one-week Bali trip (excluding food and accommodation). Monetary figures will be highlighted in red. Side notes are in blue.

Day 1 (24/7/12)
When we arrived at Ngurah Rai Airport, there was an unbelievably long queue for the application of visa-upon-arrival despite having so many counters. Fortunately Malaysians do not require visa to enter Indonesia, or we would have been stuck in the airport for another 2 hours or so. As soon as we exit the Ngurah Rai Airport arrival hall, we found the taxi counter on the right. We paid 55000 rp to go to Kuta (standard price), where we stayed for 3 nights.

The hotel that we stayed in is called Green Garden Hotel. Everything in Green Garden Hotel is nothing short of perfection - price, location, service, facilities, room, atmosphere, etc. The hotel is only a few steps away from the biggest shopping mall in Kuta, Discovery Mall (aka Centro), plus easy access to the beach; what more, it only costs 59 USD per night for a comfortable fully air-conditioned, ensuite (with bathtub) double room. It is no wonder that it is rated 2nd on tripadvisor and I would strongly recommend Green Garden Hotel if you want an enjoyable and yet reasonably cheap stay.

In the evening, we had a quick browse of Discovery Mall. See below for more details on Discovery Mall. If you are one of those who always refer to google map for travelling tips, you will see another grand-looking building next to Discovery Mall, known as Kartika Plaza, and you might think that it is yet another shopping mall but it is actually just the name of a hotel. The word "Plaza" is really misleading! 

Day 2 (25/7/12)
SOUVENIR HUNTING
We explored Discovery Mall thoroughly. There is a large collection of wooden handicrafts (tagged as Bamboo) on the ground floor which is worth spending at least an hour. But I suggest that you do NOT buy from Discovery Mall because it is often overpriced (unless you really can't find it elsewhere). There is a Kuta Art Market further up which also offers a wide selection of handicrafts but we realised that the prices here are pretty much the same as that in Discovery Mall.

The best place to buy souvenirs and handicrafts alike that we found at the end of the day is one of the less known convenient stores. It is located right next to Green Garden Hotel. If you are walking from Discovery Mall, head south and look for Green Garden Hotel on your right. When you walk past the hotel, you will find   a two-storey building which sells VCDs upstairs, again, on your right. Although the choices are rather limited, generally things are much cheaper here. We truly regret buying lots of souvenirs from Discovery Mall only to realise that the real bargain is just next door where we stayed.

FOOD HUNTING
As for food, the general rule of thumb is that the further up north from Discovery Mall, the more touristy it gets as it approaches the Pantai Kuta (Kuta Beach) area. If you are looking for cheap authentic local food like we were, head south. From Discovery Mall, walk along the road towards south until you reach a roundabout with a Barong statue, then turn left (or 9 o'clock). Just walk along the street and you will find a host of local restaurants, most of which look gloomy, worn out and unconvincing. We finally found one that is well decorated (and CHEAP as well!) and decided to stop walking because at that point we could barely see any tourists around (being the only tourists in that area is scary in many ways). A note of precaution: there is neither traffic light nor traffic police in that area so crossing the road was hellish. Also, honking in Bali is commonplace and it is by no means rude or inconsiderate. In fact Balinese (or perhaps all Indonesians?) use honks to communicate their positions and this practice probably helps avoid accidents in Bali. So don't be shocked by the cacophony of honking at a cross junction or a busy street.


We went into the restaurant and chose a seat under the fan. We got to experience the traditional Indonesian dining style - low tables and mats. I ordered Ayam Penyet + rice, one of the local dishes for 17000 rp + 4000 rp and it was beyond my expectation. I have been  to an Ayam Penyet restaurant in SS15, Subang Jaya and had always wanted to try the authentic Ayam Penyet in Indonesia. Now one of my wishes had been granted. Haha! In comparison, the Ayam Penyet in SS15 was much spicier/hotter whereas the one I tried in Bali was slightly more sourish. They are both nice in their own way.

Normal price of a meal in Discovery Mall and the surrounding area is 32000 rp and above. There are also a number of mid to high-range restaurants behind Discovery Mall which offer brilliant seaside view and are mainly targeted at the well-heeled tourists. We ordered some drinks at one of the restaurants and enjoyed the cool sea breeze (theoretically it is land breeze) at night.


However, I was not very impressed by the beach in Kuta (and Tuban), probably because I have been to more beautiful beaches such as the ones in Sabah. The sand was coarse and dotted with little junks everywhere. It was no doubt a long stretch of sandy beach though, spanning from Tuban, Kuta, Legian to Seminyak. The best beach in Bali is known to be either Jimbaran or Geger beach. I had the opportunity to go to the former (see day 4).

Day 3 (26/7/12)
We hired a driver to bring us to 4 destinations for a price of 400,000 rp. We set off at 8.30pm after breakfast firstly to Pura Taman Ayun, followed by Pura Ulun Danu Lake Bratan in Bedugul, then had lunch at a restaurant in Pacung. The last destination was Pura Tanah Lot before we headed back to Kuta. 

Illusens Quest log

I have decided to post here all the items that Illusens requests from me starting from level 30. I have been getting items less than 10k for the past few levels although Illusens did ask for items more than 50k once or twice before, but that's about it. So I expect the quest to get more and more expensive.

lvl 30 - Acara Treasure Hunter Map (6000 np) r90
lvl 31 - Hot Tyrannian Pepper (22000 np) r92
lvl 32 - Ritzy Aisha Shoes (20000 np) r95
lvl 33 - Blue Negg Plushie (26000 np) r92
lvl 34 - Snowberry Crepe (99999 np) r94 finally an UB. normal selling price is at least 120,000 np on TP but I was lucky to find someone who sold it at 99999 in his/her shop. And this also proves that it is NOT true that you will only get r98 or r99 items at lvl 34.
lvl 35 - Cog Jewellery Making r98 (FAILED despite having a few people out there to help me find the item) really sad that I'll have to start from lvl 1 but as I said, luck is not always on my side, I should consider myself lucky that I managed to clear lvl 34. By the way some claim that you will only get r99 items at lvl 35, but this is again NOT true! In fact it is more likely that Illusens will ask for an r98 item, because I have read a forum and saw someone being asked to find Air Faerie Usuki Doll which is also an r98 item. So be prepared for both r98 and r99 if you are to do lvl 35.

Now, I have started my 2nd attempt of the quest.

lvl 1 - Cup of tea (1100 np) r15 someone told me, he/she speculates that the longer you wait in between the levels, the cheaper is the item you will get. I am starting to believe in his/her speculation because I vaguely remember in the first attempt, Illusens asked for "Cup of tea" way after lvl 10. So this time round, I am going to wait for at least one week before doing the next quest from lvl 34 onwards. Hopefully the UB becomes more obtainable.
lvl 2 - Cheese and Tomato Sub (2000 np) r18
lvl 3 - Simple Purple Lamp (800 np) r20
lvl 4 - Simple Blue Bed (50 np) r20
lvl 5 - Simple Red Bed (300 np) r20 I really don't understand why I keep getting neohome items for the past few levels. Is that a trend for 2nd attempt or is it purely random? By the way, these neohome items can be purchased from http://www.neopets.com/neohome/shop and it is often cheaper to buy off here because the Shop Wizard prices are usually reseller prices.
lvl 6 - Green Eye Shadow (150np) r30
lvl 7 - Chocolate Eclair Paste (1800np) r30
lvl 8 - Large Ice Creamy Jelly Smoothie (1200np) r30
lvl 9 - Green Short Hair Brush (400np) r35

Dublin

Two weeks ago, I flew to Dublin with Ryanair and stayed there for 3 nights. My friend was kind enough to offer me accommodation so that was a great help to keep my budget in check. The first two days we spent most of the time walking around the city centre, especially on both sides of the Liffey River. Whenever I go to a new place, I always try to spot what is unique about the place or how it is different from other places. I have compiled my findings about Dublin as follows:

1. I personally find the city of Dublin less interesting than most other European cities. There are very few tourist attractions (with the exception of Guinness Storehouse). Even the Trinity College that Dublin boasts of is nothing more than a mini version of Oxford and Cambridge colleges.  The architecture is mostly unimpressive even when compared to that in London. That said, I did find some interesting buildings (among which include the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre). I will post their photos here soon when I could get my memory card to work.

2. The urban planning is rather unique, nonetheless. According to my friend, the government places a greater emphasis on the rural development. Unlike most developing countries where the cities eventually boom into metropolis and the rural areas remain unchanged, Dublin is probably on the opposite extreme. It is not surprising to find huge (in fact, overly huge!!) and fully stocked shopping malls in the outskirt of Dublin while those in the city hub suffer from a dire lack of stock. Also, the public transport in and around Dublin seems to be somewhat counter-intuitive. The shuttle buses to the rural areas are as frequent as the buses in the city centre, probably with the intention of providing equal welfare to the rural folks. But this means that most of the buses serving the outskirt are not sustainable and therefore need to rely on the revenue acquired from the central buses. It is no wonder that bus fares in the city centre are constantly on the rise. It is also very interesting to know that massive double-decker buses each carrying only 2 or 3 passengers from the outskirt are in fact one of the main contributors to the traffic jam in Dublin.

3. Like most cities, you can often find beggars gathering alms on the bridge, by the pavements, etc. But what made me shake my head in disbelief is the fact that all (not just a few, but ALL) the beggars I saw in Dublin were young healthy tetrapod individuals who even had the spare money for cigarettes. This may partly reflect the low employment rate of Dublin or simply reflect the attitude of the young Dubliners towards life. My friend suggests that it may be the former, as she revealed that Ireland is currently in a heavy debt owing to the recent intense development of the rural area. It is again, interesting to see how a nation's economic status can be so easily gauged from simple observation like the beggars.

Egyptair vs Emirates

A few weeks ago, I flew with Egyptair from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur, via Cairo and Bangkok. I chose Egyptair because at the time of booking, Egyptair was GBP100 cheaper than Emirates. I also wanted to explore different airlines and compare the pros and cons. So here are the pros and cons.

Pros of Egyptair (in relation to Emirates)
- Slightly cheaper (sometimes)
- baggage allowance of 46kg (max 23kg per baggage, max 2 items), whereas Emirates only allows up to 30kg (unless paid extra)
- while Emirates has a larger game bank, I personally find Egyptair games more interesting and less repetitive
- smooth and hassle-free check-in

Pros of Emirates (in relation to Egyptair)
- Emirates has far more movies for your selection, and they are more up to date too. I only watched two movies while on board (Egyptair), because all the other movies were just too uninteresting.
- Shorter travelling hours
- More window shopping opportunities during transit at Dubai Airport (there is nothing to shop at all in Cairo Airport during transit)
- Emirates feels more posh and extravagant (probably due to the colour and decoration of the interior of the aircraft)
- Slightly better food (my personal opinion)
- Emirates has super hot air stewards and air stewardesses (many of the Egyptair cabin crew I saw were above 40+, or maybe it is just that particular flight)

Considering all the benefits, next time I will always choose Emirates over Egyptair even if it is slightly more expensive (unless I really have A LOT of luggage).