k r i s a n d r o

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As the end of the year approach, I’ll tend to see friends and family disappear for days and weeks on end. Not hibernating in a monsoon drain in Singapore with instant noodles of course, but actually flying off to various destinations in hope of a good holiday to reward themselves for a year of hard work.

The economy has just begun to pick up and it’s no surprise that the choice destinations for Singaporeans are the South-East Asian countries like Thailand and Indonesia. For those who have money to burn and a great imagination can even head down to Sentosa and forget that it’s actually an island just 20 mins away from the city centre by car.

For the rest of us who are bored with visiting Thailand for the XXXth time and have dwindling bank accounts to be considering Sentosa for a getaway, why not consider the Philippines as your next holiday destination?

Philippines, being an archipelago, has thousands of virgin and enclosed beaches just waiting to be explored.

Not to mention the lakes, waterfalls and nature trails for the slightly more adventurous.

I personally know a few Pinoys and boy are they friendly, humorous and passionate people. No worries about any language barrier if you are there as Philippines is the 3rd largest English speaking country in the world.

Seeing that the monsoon season has just passed in the Philippines, the time between now till the first half of next year is the best time to visit the country and you can expect cool weather while enjoying a tan at the beach or exploring the islands. Check out popular destinations like Busuanga the Paradise Island and Puerto Princesa the City in a Forest for inspiration!

Cebu Pacific Air, being Philippines leading domestic carrier, provides cheap flights to the country with all year-round low fares that is affordable to everyone. I have been informed that they are going to have an all destinations big sale soon and if you intend to travel to Philippines with them, you can even consider using Philippines as a hub to travel to other countries with their cheap flights!

There are two ways to monitor the great deals that Cebu Pacific Air gives and they are the official website and their .

Don’t miss out on good travel deals!

Find out more about Philippines at their Department of Tourism’s portal.

I am serving my first In-Camp Training (ICT) this week as an National Serviceman (NSman) and it’s been a wealth of emotions and feelings leading up to Monday and the completion of the first day in the camp.

1 year and 3 months have passed since I left the Air Force as a regular and the stressed job of being an Air Traffic Controller. The memories of the 4 and a half years spent in the service still lingers in the recesses of my brain (whatever is left of it).

I need approximately 2 hours to travel via public transport from my home to my squadron in the east and I wanted to rest early. I tried to sleep from 12 midnight and could only doze off into a semi-conscious state at around 3am because I stressed myself out from thinking of all the situations in difficult controlling situations.

Besides the insane amount of travelling time, another big complaint I have is that I cannot bring any gadgets like my laptop, psp or my Nokia N95 into camp and that means ZERO entertainment for 4 hrs of travelling everyday and not being able to take any nap in the train ride as well. Wearing the Air Force uniform with officer epulettes and sleeping on the train is akin to shouting out loud,

“HEY!!!! I AM AN OFFICER! I AM TAKING A NAP! WHY DON’T YOU ALL TAKE A PICTURE OF ME SLEEPING AND POST A PIC TO STOMP???”

 

So, for the 1st time in a decade or more, I went to the library to borrow books to help me pass time in the train. BOOKS! I know people STILL read books but to me, that’s such a retro form of entertainment.

BOOKS! *rolls eyes*

I am very bad with directions and have trouble remembering how to get from point A to B even if I might have traveled the same route before. Streetdirectory.com was my savior back then and even so, I have been hating the cluttered layout and lack of support for SMRT buses in their route planning for public transport. But compared to the other local map directories, streetdirectory.com was the best.

Streetdirectory.com was sued by Singapore Land Authority (SLA) last year over the usage of their maps and it took very long bring back the maps to the needy locals like me and probably lost quite a large number of following in the period of time. I do have to highlight that the facebook group has quite an impressive following of 5K+ members.

But thanks to the e27 conference that I’ve attended in July, I got to know about a local startup by 3 young men called GoThere.sg. There were many interesting web startups that thay but GoThere.sg was definitely the highlight for me. After using it for months and months, I reaffirm that it is everything that streetdirectory.com should be and MORE.

 

Clean Interface

Messy Streetdirectory.com

VS

Neat Gothere.sg

Compared to the clutter of Streetdirectory.com, Gothere.sg is a great relief to the eyes. There have just undergone a face-lift and it looks aestheically pleasing while retaining the clutter-free interface.

 

Leveraging on a Great Product

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Gothere.sg’s maps are based on the already wonderful product that is of Google Maps. If you guys have ever used Google Maps before, I am sure you’ll marvel at the speed and the ease of navigation. What Gothere.sg did was to add overlays of local information like block numbers, building names, bus stop locations coupled with bus services and even ERP gantry locations. This made a great product even better and relevant to the locals.

 

Excellent Public Transport Guide

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This has to be the most important for me and people who do not own a car. Choose where you are going from and where you are off to and Gothere.sg will tell you how to drive there or how to travel to the destination via public transport with two options, ‘Bus only’ OR ‘Bus and Train’. Gothere.sg plans your route with train and bus information from both SBS AND SMRT.

 

Other Great Features

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Clicking icons on the maps like Parking, ERP and Bus Stops gives you information like parking fees, ERP car rates, bus services and timings (for SBS via IRIS).

 

Gothere.sg allows the embedding of their map to help you share the route/information you found on a website.

 

Gothere.sg is still an infant compared to Streetdirectory.com but has already surpassed their predessesor in so many aspects. I do hope that the guys at Gothere.sg can find ways to monetize the site while keeping the clutter to a minimum like the way it is now. One can only hope for more improvements and have it grow and not die off like many web startups we have all seen that died prematurely.

Trust me on this one. Forget about Streetdirectory.com. GoThere.sg is the answer! Spread the word!