Japan Day 3 - Exploring Sheraton Okinawa Sunmarina Resort

24 Oct - Today will be a "Stay in Resort" day as we hunkered down to escape the remnants of Typhoon Trami. With no outdoor activities that can be done, we plan to explore the rest of the resort facilities. For a start, we have booked a 1 hour Karaoke Room to try out some Japanese songs. We also plan to  accompany the little one as he explore the Indoor Playground and have fun jumping into the ball pit. Last but not the least, we will also be spending some time in the heated indoor pool and the outdoor water slides if we can brave the cold. 

Since the reviews for the resort breakfast is not fantastic, we ventured out to Buruno, which has a 4.6 rating out of 36 Google reviews. This is one of few shops which opens for breakfast serving Onigiri (Surprisingly, most open typically around 11am). I have tried most of their varieties and all tasted not bad! In the end, we came back again 2 days later... haha

Buruno shop front

Teriyaki Pork Wrap

Okinawa Cooked Rice

Spam & Egg (Okinawa Specialty)

For dinner, we tried the Izakaya Chinuman (Manza Tei) near our resort. An interesting fact about Izakaya in Okinawa is that most carried an adult cover charge ranging from 300-500 yen per pax. Once you paid, they will serve you some appetizer.

Chinuman (Manza Tei) Shop front

Sea Grapes (Okinawa Specialty)

Tuna Rice

Tuna Stir Fry Noodle (This is nice!)

Cover charge appetizer

Soba Noodle

Spam and Starchy Egg (Feels like oyster omelette)

Sushi

Japan Day 2 - Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, Kouri Ocean Tower & Nago Pineapple Park

23 Oct - Today is a day for outdoor exploration as we had rented a car for 10 hours accompanied with a Chinese driver. General plan for the day is to go have breakfast, before visiting the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium, followed by Kouri Ocean Tower. Weather forecast is that the whole Okinawa will be affected by Typhoon Trami's rain (which is ravaging Philippines) starting after 12pm. We will see the situation then and decide which is the final destination we can visit.

Morning shot from hotel balcony (Weather really changes fast in Okinawa)

For breakfast, I search Google Map and decided on Hawaiian Pancakes House Paanilani, which is on the way to the aquarium and has a 4.3 rating out of 2000+ reviews. They have an interesting variety of toppings for the pancakes which make you spoilt for choices. For myself, I settled on Loco Moco Pancake, which has the most recommendations on Google Review, consisting of homemade beef patty with a sunny side up.

Hawaiian Pancakes House Paanilani

Loco Moco Pancakes (Really nice!)

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium (Our first attraction of the day) is situated within Ocean Expo Park. What sets it apart is that the dolphin show and sea turtle pool is located outside the aquarium and public can access them for free! I guess I can only find such deals in Japan. Anyway, the aquarium is not big. You can probably finish touring it in about 2 hours. However, the vibe that it gives me was that it was built for educational purposes, rather than a tourist attraction. I find the experience is way way better than our SG SEA Aquarium.

Going down the escalator to the Dolphin Show

Our next destination was Kouri Ocean Tower, a scenic view overlooking the Kouri Ohashi Bridge. The ground floor is the Shell Museum showcasing all types of shells and corals you can imagine. Be amazed how expensive can 1 coral cost. Too bad rain and wind gust was coming in from Typhoon Trami. We did not have a good picture at the top of the tower. Stay any longer and we just might get blown over and fall flat on the floor.

Kouri Ocean Tower

Shell Museum

Kouri Ohashi Bridge

Given that rain will be continuing for the whole of the day, our last stop was decided to be Nago Pineapple Park, where 90% of the park is under shelter. The whole park is divided into 3 distinct exhibits - Tropical Fruits (Including Pineapple field), Butterfly House and Dinosaur Tour. The park itself is not big and probably you can finish walking in under 2 hours.

Pineapple Park Entrance

Tropical Flowers

Butterfly House

Pineapple Field

Dino Tour

Typhoon is really no joke. You are practically stuck within shelter due to the rain and wind. Thank God tomorrow is "Stay in resort Day" as this weather is forecast to last till tomorrow evening.

Japan Day 1 - Sheraton Okinawa Sunmarina Resort

22 Oct - This trip was made possible due to a AUD$200 Jetstar voucher that was given to us per pax out of goodwill as a result of the 8 hours delay at Melbourne Airport while we are on the flight to Ayers Rock. Okinawa was chosen as the destination partly because we have never been there before and the Japanese Yen currently is really weak (Imagine an exchange rate at 1 SGD to 110 Yen!). 

We booked the Sheraton Resort after seeing good reviews on Google where it is praised for being a kids friendly hotel with all the facilities to keep them entertained throughout the day. Just imagine a resort with heated indoor pool, outdoor pool with water slides, access to beaches, indoor playground, ball pit, Japanese bath...etc. Below are some pictures of the resort. For more information, you may refer to the hotel website.

Saltwater aquarium which is a hit with the kids

Halloween Photo Booth

Food wise, there are many choices available within 20-30 mins walk from the hotel. You can just search the Google map reviews and go to any shops that have a 4.0 rating and above. If you are feeling lazy, there is also a Family Mart just at the hotel entrance. For dinner today, we settled on Okinawa Soba from More Blue. This is simply the best soba and pork meat I have ever tasted in my whole trip in Okinawa! Highly recommended! Cold version comes with a saltier broth and sea grapes (Only found in Okinawa)

3Q 2024 Investment Strategy Update

The Feds has finally made their move, deciding on a 0.50% interest rate cut, making borrowing cheaper, and at the same time, hoping to steer the USA economy into a soft landing and not go into recession. With that, this signals the start of the interest lowering cycle. Cheers to the REITs and those companies on high debt. Banks, on the other hand, ever dependent on their Net Interest Margin, is forecast to start reporting lower profits. Now... this is the time to buy your last train ticket into REITs before they start flying off, benefiting from lower interest cost and reporting higher dividend rate. Next Federal meeting is set in Nov, where markets are envisioning a 0.25% cut and a final 0.25% cut in December.

DJI ended at 42330, a increase of 3212 points (+8.21%) compared to 2Q 2024. For Singapore, STI ended at 3585, an increase of 253 points (+7.59%) compared to last quarter, tracking gains on Wall Street. Last 3 months saw the Singapore 3 banks surging from stellar results and not forgetting Singtel, continue its 23% climb after releasing Singtel 28, their next growth strategy and revised dividend policy back in May 2024. Investors seem to really like what they saw, with potential increase in dividend rates.

Sadly to say, as the company I am working at is not doing well, they have decided not to issue any mid year bonus, thus, I do not have spare cash to load into any counter this quarter. Hopefully, with the lowering of interest rate, all the US Office REITs in Singapore can start resuming their dividend soon.

That is all for now. See you all in Q4 2024 update and thank you for reading thus far.

2Q 2024 Investment Strategy Update

When is Fed going to start cutting interest rates for real? I guess that is the questions weighing on many people's mind. Goalpost has shifted compared to 3 months ago. Now, the projection is lowered to just one cut this year, with analysts predicting it will likely happen in Sep 2024. I am currently staying on the sideline, probably continuing what I have been doing these past 6 months: Accumulating US Office Reits, since their price now is at rock bottom and there is little risk they will go Chapter 11 as they have suspended their dividend payment.

DJI ended at 39118, a decrease of 689 points (-1.73%) compared to 1Q 2024. For Singapore, STI ended at 3332, an increase of 108 points (+3.34%) compared to last quarter. Not much movement in the index as it seems everyone is also staying on the sideline like me, waiting for further directions. AI tech stocks did have a boom in the last 2 months, unfortunately, I did not ride the wave.

Anyway, below are my transactions for 2Q 2024: 

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit shares in June. Continue accumulating at rock bottom price, waiting for Fed to cut their interest rates. Assuming 5 cents dividend a year during normal times, this will be 37% dividend yield based on current price. 

That is all for now. See you all in Q3 2024 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Australia Day 11 - Paddy's Market and Sydney Opera House

19 May - Morning was spent walking to Paddy's Market to purchase some Australian nuts to bring back Singapore as gifts, after which, we made our way towards the Sydney Opera House for some photos, passing by Hyde Park, which bring back memories of our previous visits to Sydney in 2009.

The same old Archibald Memorial Fountain at Hyde Park

Rainbow at Archibald Memorial Fountain

Sydney Opera House in the afternoon sun

Sydney Opera House with Sydney Harbor Bridge

Sydney Opera House at night

Faces of Change Light Show (24 May - 15 Jun)

On the way back to our hotel, we caught the Faces of Change Light Show shone on the Sydney Harbor Bridge. *OEE* didn't want to leave until seeing the show X (I lost count) number of times!😂