UK Day 3 - Calton Hill and Arthur's Seat

24 Feb - Today was a free & easy day with nothing planned in particular. As a result, *mds* and I decided to make full use of the cool weather to explore Edinburgh. First off, we walked up Calton Hill which was located just behind our hotel.

Name: Calton Hill

Elevation: 103 m

Brief description: Calton Hill, with its city views, is home to the Collective contemporary art gallery and an unfinished National Monument. 

Good day for some exercise huh...

Apparently, there is some attraction at the top of the hill

View of Edinburgh City from the top

The unfinished National Monument which was modeled after Parthenon in Athens, Greece. Halfway through the project, they ran out of funds and it was left unfinished

The photogenic shot of Edinburgh, with the castle in the background

Scott Monument

Edinburgh Castle. As we are short of time, we did not enter the castle. There is too much crowd and tourist anyway......

Playing with my camera glittering illumination effect during lunch

After lunch, we walked to Arthur's seat. You see the highest peak in the middle of the picture? That is where we are heading!

Name: Arthur's Seat

Elevation: 251 m

Brief description: Arthur's Seat is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design".

As we walk, out came our thick jacket and after 90 mins of climbing, we are almost there. Yup just 100m away from our destination in this picture

View from the top, simply amazing!

As we decent, we have a chance to witness clouds rolling by the hill. Heavenly!

I think sakura is just starting to bloom

I must say we are truly blessed, loved and protected by God. After we leave Edinburgh, two days later, we saw the news that Arthur's Seat is on fire and the authority has closed the park.... 0.0

UK Day 2 - Glencoe & Loch Ness

23 Feb - Woke up early to start the day with a day tour to Glencoe and Loch Ness with Rabbie's. We found this agency through Klook which has a relatively good review. It is a short walk from our hotel to the meetup location at Rabbie's Cafe Bar (Pretty convenient huh, placing the meetup location at its own cafe bar =p) at 0745. The tour guide mentioned to us at the beginning that everytime he pass by Glencoe, he just cannot resist to stop and goes "Ahhhh" looking at the mountains. At first, we did not understand what he meant but later, we got it. You just have to see the pictures to understand why....

First pit stop - Loch (pronounced as "loft") Lubnaig, which means Lake Lubnaig

Reminds me of the NZ fjords... so scenic

Playing with my camera on Impressive Art mode

Glencoe

Ahhh

Ahhhhhhh....could have stayed here forever.....

Loch Ness, too bad no monster sighted today

Over here, we have a short break to explore around the town and have lunch if we are hungry. At the tour guide recommendation, we have a taste of Scottish food known as Haggis, which is essentially a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver, and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal's stomach. The dish is normally served with mashed potatoes and mashed turnips. The taste is meaty and strong with the first mouthful, but it gets increasingly unappetizing if you ate too much. 

UK Day 1 - Onward to Edinburgh

22 Feb - Arrived into London on a foggy early morning. I think we are one of the first flight that landed at Heathrow Airport as the whole terminal 2 is literally devoid of passengers except us and the airport staffs. We proceed smoothly and quickly (Thank God) through the custom and we are on our way to board the Heathrow Express to London!

Empty Airport

Heathrow Express that will get you to London in 15 mins

From Paddington Station, we took an Underground subway to King's Cross Station for our National Railway train journey (About 4.5 hours) to Edinburgh Waverley Station. We must really thank God for He really has planned this trip well for us. Not only we managed to get a low season First Class Pass that is only available for the month of February for foreigners, we also obtained this pass at a further discount through Klook promotional events. Having researched thoroughly on the different railway companies available, we settled on the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) for they have the best review for their first class seats, services and meals. We really did not regret our choice as the staffs keep feeding us with drinks, snacks and a complimentary meal on board which comes with charging station and WiFi.

As we are early, we checked out the surrounding at King's Cross and were pleasantly surprised at what we found - The entrance to Hogwarts Castle train platform (Platform 9.75). Not surprising, there is a long queue for photos with the half trolley that has gone into the wall.

Time's up. Boarding at Platform 2 for our LNER train.

And 4.5 hours later, we are at Edinburgh!

After check in, we visited the National Museum of Scotland as recommended by the hotel staff since the entrance is free.

Museum exhibits

On the rooftop, we managed to have a good view of Edinburgh Castle and a clock tower

Before the sun set, we have a leisure stroll down Victoria Street to see these multi-colored shops that seems to breath life into the boring landscape. =p

Side Visit to USJ & Nara

Thank God for blessing us with an affordable ticket to Kyoto such that we can explore Universal Studio Japan (USJ) and Nara Park with the extended weekend break. For USJ, it is a revisit to take the remaining rides that we failed to take the last time. Having prior experience, we took steps to avoid food and rides that are either not nice or not worth our time to queue. 

We are back!

USJ Universal Cool Japan is also having their 5th anniversary and for this current Spring term, they are having 3 new attractions: “Detective Conan: Mystery Challenge”, “Detective Conan Mystery Restaurant” and "Lupin the Third Car Chase XR Ride". However, as we failed to secure the Conan Cool Ticket Pass, we can only ride the "Lupin the Third Car Chase XR Ride" after queuing for it for 120 mins.

Lupin the Third Car Chase XR Ride

We miss the Conan daily event again. By the time we know, all the event task has been given out

A visit to Hogwarts Castle again, without the butter beer

As usual, lots of people even though this is supposed to be a low season

Spent the day slowly touring USJ till the park closed

Stayed at Hotel Keihan Universal Tower, which was conveniently located next to Universal City Station

Next morning breakfast at Top of the Universal where we have a great view of the bay area

After breakfast, it is a visit to the Nara park to look at free roaming deer. Sunday was also the Pokemon Go community day and we have a great 3 hours clearing research tasks and catching the shiny Swinub.

The Golden Temple @ Nara

Pagoda at the Park. We are also wondering why are there so many middle school students at the park on a Sunday...

The legendary deer

Engaging battle started!

Last but not the least, a light event at Kyoto Station

Global Warming Proof

Wow, photos really speaks a thousand words. Now, President Donald Trump, please just accept global warming is REAL.

Aquaman

Synopsis: Once home to the most advanced civilization on Earth, the city of Atlantis is now an underwater kingdom ruled by the power-hungry King Orm. With a vast army at his disposal, Orm plans to conquer the remaining oceanic people -- and then the surface world. Standing in his way is Aquaman, Orm's half-human, half-Atlantean brother and true heir to the throne. With help from royal counselor Vulko, Aquaman must retrieve the legendary Trident of Atlan and embrace his destiny as protector of the deep. [Source: Internet]

Not a bad DC movie. Fantastic effect with the way these characters interact with the ocean and animals, it just seems all the sea creatures are their friends! And not forgetting throwing in environmental messages and making a point with the way we human pollute our Mother Earth (Are they making a dig at Donald Trump conviction that Global Warming is Fake news?) Overall, a good movie not to be miss!

Rate: 8/10

4Q 2018 Investment Strategy Update

What a way to end 2018! Democrats will takeover the house coming Jan 2019, ending Republican control of both house and senate and doing whatever they wished. Trump forcing a partial government shutdown and blaming on Democrats not giving him the votes to release money to build his wall. USA starting to see the signs of economic strain in Trump's tariff with China with the increased cost passing onto consumers. People worrying about slowing economy as the 2 big economic powers clashing head to head. Oil price has plunged almost 50% from the recent high. S&P 500 has entered bear market (>20% drop from high) with the recent lows while Dow Jones is just a whisker away from the bear market. And of course, Trump's ever volatile temperament with his furious twitter on increasing fed rate (an attempt at making the feds bending to his will) causing drag on USA economy and few more sacking of his team who do not agree with his view. Last but not the least, entered Trump the celebrity day trader, who twittered USA company is in good shape, now is the chance to buy stocks at such an attractive price! Seriously.... I think Trump just don't want his stock value to drop..... what a way to influence the market.

DJI ended at 23327, a drop of 3131 points (-11.83%) compared to 3Q. For Singapore, STI ended 4Q at 3068, a decrease of 189 points (-5.80%) compared to 3Q. DJI decline started in Sep 2018 while STI decline started in May 2018, 4 months earlier than DJI. I believe the current negative sediment will still continue for 2-3 more month, at least until the USA-China trade talks come to a conclusion (Or until Trump decides he cannot force China to Kow Tow to him) in Feb 2019.

As 2018 come to a close, it is time for a review again how do I fare with my 3 year plan (New Investment Strategy 2017 - Growing Passive Income)? It has now passed 2/3 of the journey and below are my result:

Original 2017-2019 plan:

1. 50% Equity, 50% Reits/Trusts
2. Portfolio Yield to be 1.50% in 2017, 2.50% in 2018, 3.75% in 2019.

End 2018 Snapshot:

1. 68.76% Equity, 31.24% Reits/Trusts
2. Portfolio Yield at 1.27% in 2017, 1.42% in 2018 (+0.15% from 2017, but miss 2018 2.50% target)

Below is my end 2018 portfolio snapshot:

On a hindsight, what I have been saying for the past 1 year (Since 4Q 2017) has come to pass. The BEAR has arrived and in a quick fashion too! For me, when people starts panic selling, it is time for me to start cherry picking counters that are at attractive prices. Continuing with last quarter practice, I am focus on defensive stocks such as high yielding equity and opportunistic buys as below:

Transaction 1: Bought in a batch of Singtel in December.

Price of Singtel has become attractive again. At $3.00, it provides about 5.8% dividend yield. Certainly a good opportunity hard to pass up.

Transaction 2: Bought in a batch of Sasseur Reit in December.

I usually don't trust China company due to many examples of bad management and shady results (Fraud. bankrupt...etc). For this counter, since it has physical assets and tied to retail, I decided to give it a try. At current price of $0.65, it will provide about 9% dividend yield according to its IPO forecast, guaranteed for 2 years.

Transaction 3: Bought in a batch of Amara in December.

This hotel company is transforming itself to retail and office landlord. I believe they will start increasing their dividend in 2019. At current price, a good chance to average down the high price I paid in 2013.

That is all for now. See you all in Q1 2019 update and thank you for reading this long long post. =)

13th Year Blog Anniversary

13 years and still counting. While most of my friends has stopped blogging, I still kept this little space ongoing as a form of record to track my life journey. Pretty busy this year as I have already embark on 8 business trips to countries such as India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Pray for good health, journey mercy, prayers to be answered and growing ever closer to God in faith.

Some Statistic:
Page Count: 59841 +1223
Year on Year increase: -1779 -59.26%