Me Time!
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@Liew-Nga-Wing By 2026, TCM might be included in the Healthier SG scheme.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/tcm-practition-expansion-scheme-healthier-sg-ong-ye-kung-4705821 -
Hi all I just log into Ksp after a while… am trying to find my old private chat posts and threads but seems like is all not available.
Does it mean all the old posts and threads are not migrated over to the new site ?
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Yes, correct. All your old posts are gone.
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@phtthp er, ok thanks. Seems like the vibes from Ksp are somehow different. Anyway how to pm?
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@marmalade,
Click on the username of who you want to PM
Click on the button with 3 dots on the right
Click on Start new chat with … option
Private chat rooms can be accessed via the speech bubble icon on the top
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@zac-s-mum said in Me Time!:
@slmkhoo Mind sharing where you target to visit in Berlin & prague? We may go Munich next year, will consider extending to your 2 cities if have stuff we like!
DH had an official trip to Prague last year. The first thing that came to his mind then was that I would love this town and he said he would like to bring me there one day.
I shared some photos in the old ksp forums but the photos are now all gone. A few must-visit places are :
1). Strahov library, part of the Strahov Monastery complex
2). Prague Castle complex
3). St Vitus CathedralPlease bring your DS there. I think he would fall in love with the city too, like how my DH did.
You should ask your DH to take you, the wifey, there! He was supposed to take you to those EU museums, iirc. EU’s so beautiful!
I’ve been to Prague twice. And take you to Xi’an, Egypt, etc, all those places you shared with us that your DH went solo. It’s not fair.
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@lee_yl very very.
Their CCTV system and facial recognition system are out of the world. They can track down crooks any / every where.
The facial recognition system is everywhere at the major attractions now. I just came back from a cross-country tour of China since the start of the school hols. I don’t know how many years they will store my portrait, but I’m sure they will retake my portrait when I revisit China。
HSR that I took 10 years ago didn’t require that much security checks. Nowadays, you’d need to go through stringent checks, i.e. metal detector, X-ray of bags, facial recognition, and even 实名制 passport checks by human staff if you’re a foreigner.
What annoys me if that you need to go through all that checks at the Subway stations too! It’s exactly the same SOP as the airports! One commuter behind me had a fruit knife and was caught by the subway X-ray at one of the subway stations I was at. She explained it was used to cut fruits for her young kid. Aiyo, so dangerous to carry knives on trains! So there are actually pros and cons of such airport-style checks.
Another thing that annoyed me was that all local commuters (young or pioneer/merdeka) are already using NFC to pass thru gantries. All the locals didn’t need to use any EZlink (or that SimplyGo) at all, whereas we foreigners had to go to the token machines to scan our 支付宝 微信 QR code to purchase our single-trip tokens! You can’t use cash or credit card to buy the tokens at all.
What further alarmed me was that Nike shop in one of the Tier 2 cities no longer accepts Visa/Mastercard/Amex! They only accept 银联、支付宝、微信, so we had to scan QR code to buy our new shoes! Thankfully some downtown foodcourts and small shops still take my RMB cash!
And to book a “PHV” 网约车, you need to download their multiple transport apps and pay thru those same digital payment modes and a local China mobile HP as the driver would need to contact you when he is approaching you.
Speaking of PHVs and cabs, they are all EVs these days, and the GPS map is so detailed that you could see which roads are heavily congested. I’m not sure if our Comfort cabs can see the red roads? The Didi cabs and other 网约 cars have a very large LED screen.
And most of the downtown hotels have gone “smart”. I wonder if our Orchard Road hotels are that “smart”? I’ve not been doing SG staycays for several years!
And just so you know, most attractions require advance booking, some as early as 3 days prior to arrival to manage the crowds. And to do so, you’d need to scan their QR code to fix a timeslot!
Every attraction in China now requires local to scan their ID or passport for foreigners to enter. Very troublesome. We had to carry our passports everywhere in a crossbody.
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DH has been to Xi An and he likes it because he is someone who likes historical stuff. One can get to see 兵马俑 (probably not my cup of tea!), the Han tombs, and even visit 华山
I have heard of someone being cheated by posts from XHS. Paid the “tour guide” deposit for hotel/transport but when reach China, couldn’t find that person-in-charge. Good reviews can be fake.
So do be careful !!Yep, those on xhs, TikT post not always true .though China is generally safe according to dh, he said it is quite safe for a solo female to wander in Xi’an city with the public transport in day time . but for tour either do yourself , take train then get cabby thru the transport App or get hotel for day trip , too many scam out there n we are unsure are the drivers safe or not by those small online trips etc . Those day trips fr sg site are alright
Not that bad lah. Just book thru ctrip. Very safe.
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I didn’t do an extensive tour like Zeit but spent 10 days or so exploring around Chengdu, a 2nd-tier city. What I found was that yes, China is very advanced technologically with their epayments and transport, but it is convenient only for locals. Good thing we spent a little extra time at the airport Q-ing and buying a local prepaid SIM card for the local HP number (brought a spare HP along for this purpose). The didi drivers will ask for your local number when u board the car, rather than your destination, to confirm you’re the correct passenger. The tour drivers that we booked preferred to call our HP (when urgent like where are u now?) rather than wechat call, even though wechat was used to chat on non-urgent details.
Similar experience with @Zeit with the passports (i was the one carrying them in a waist pouch). Locals with China ID (including the HKers) can use the many gantries for trains & tourist attractions, but foreigners are restricted to only 1 specific gantry that can scan passports, and usually a staff is stationed there to scan it for you. Even if u have bought tickets beforehand. Still must scan passport/ticket manually by that staff.
Payment for shopping & dining is supposedly more with Alipay and WechatPay, but due to our stringent sg banks there is usually some security/anti-scam 2FA that makes it twice as long for us tourists to pay the merchant. Hence they get irritated that we take so long. Credit cards only accepted at fine dining restaurants in the city.
And the toilets in the UNESCO world heritage sites…have no flushing sewage system omg. At least they have doors (unlike Beijing’s forbidden city that I visited 12 years ago!)
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Many of the toilets in the hutongs in Beijing still have have no doors no soap!
I faced the same irritations travelling to visit my sister’s family in China last year. China’s systems are perfect for convenience (and surveillance) for the local population - but it is not convenient for overseas travellers.
Everyone raves about the high speed rail. Yes, it’s new and nice and all. But I find the system highly troublesome. For a 10 minute ride between HK and Shenzhen, I have to do baggage checks and ID checks. And worse still, the gates only open like 20 min before the scheduled time, so you cannot get into the waiting area near the platform in advance to sit down and eat or chill - it only opens at a stipulated time. The entry to the platform itself is also at a restricted time. You don’t have the flexibility to board the next train if you miss your designated train. OK I guess this makes sense for a long distance ride, but for a short ride, it seems very restrictive. They also don’t allow for standing passengers. The controls are very tight.
Booking taxis and attractions is another pain - you definitely need to download and operate their local apps.
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