Japan Day 1 - Start of 3 weeks journey

26 Oct - By God's grace, this is a special trip that was made possible as we are bringing *OEE* to experience a 2-week Japan Pre-school exchange! We only started exploring the idea some 6 months in advance around May 2025 where there are still a lot of things that needed arrangement. The trip seems impossible but we prayed and somehow, He made all the things clicked into place:

1. Manager is supportive of me Work from Hotel for 2 weeks instead of taking annual leaves.
2. Managed to arrange 2 make-up lectures which I will miss during the time I am in Japan.
3. The platform vendor (Japan Preschool Exchange) recommended Penguin International School which fits all our requirements:
• School must be walkable from our accommodation as we are not intending to drive.
• Accommodation must be easily accessible via train.
• School must have teachers who can speak English for communication.
4. Special bonus (which we later found out. Thank God!):
• We can arrange our own accommodation and not strictly followed the platform arrangement. This alone shave off 20% of the cost.
• He lead us to find our accommodation - Super Hotel Mitazono Sendai Airport, which is the only hotel which allow triple sharing of room.
• This Super Hotel is top notch! Not only it has an onsite onsen, they also provide free 5 amenities per night of stay per pax! The amenities available includes face masks, lotions, patches...etc
5. *OEE* transport fee is FOC as child ticket is only required for 6 years old and above. Child ticket is priced at 50% of normal adult price and this applies to Shinkansen as well.
6. Fall of Japan Yen nearer to the trip which made things even more cheaper!

We flew via Asiana red eye flight to Sendai International Airport, transiting Incheon. Not much to see over at Sendai Airport, except an exhibition on the 11 March 2011 tsunami, which Sendai was hit pretty hard. Super Hotel Mitazono Sendai Airport was easy to get to. Just take the airport train and drop off the next stop!

Super Hotel Mitazono Sendai Airport

Vietnam Day 6 - Sun World Hon Thom & Kiss of the Sea Show

18 Sep - Today, we switched battleground to the south of Phu Quoc, visiting the Mediterranean inspired Sunset Town, riding the world’s longest oversea cable car into Hon Thom island and ending the day with the spectacular Kiss of the Sea Show.

After a 90mins car ride from the north to the south, our journey begins on the Hon Thom Cable Car, the world's longest oversea cable car, stretching nearly 8 kilometers and offering breathtaking panoramic views of turquoise seas, lush islands, and endless skies. If not for the rain and gloomy sky, the view can be nicer.

Hon Thom Departure Terminal - Sun World

7,900m above the sea

Sunworld Hon Thom island is still pretty much a construction work in progress. Many of the island facilities are still constructing leaving visitors to contend with Aquatopia Water Park and and Exotica Park which features only 1 wooden roller coaster. Since it was raining and there is nothing much we can do, we linger around the station exhibition hall.

Hon Thom island when fully built

Venue where we are catching the Kiss of the Sea show

Fake Colosseum 

Going to the top of the Kiss Bridge

Getting ready for the spectacular and wet show

Kiss of the Sea Show is the world’s largest water-fire-laser performance that lights up the night sky and mesmerizes the audience, and followed up with fireworks at the end. Due to the large usage of seawater mist which kept the air moist for the laser effect, there was no photos about the show. However, the fireworks was really generous and low, so that audiences have a close look.

Vietnam Day 5 - Vinpearl Safari Phu Quoc

17 Sep - Today is reserved for our Safari day, but things are not off to a good start. The sky has been gloomy all morning and threatened to pour. We took the free shuttle bus after breakfast from our resort which bring us to the entrance of Vinpearl Safari Phu Quoc and off we go to catch the first performance of the day with the birds.

Vinpearl Safari Phu Quoc Entrance

Map of the safari

Bird Show! But rain started pouring halfway

With the torrential rain that came pouring down halfway into the show, the performance was halted as both birds and employees ran off seeking shelters. For the audiences, we are faced with 2 choices: either wait out the rain under the shelter, or purchase a poncho and be on our way. For us, we chose the poncho option and slowly make our way to visit other animals within the safari since the opening hours of this park is only until 4pm.

One interesting point about this safari is that for certain exhibits, the birds and animals are allowed to free-roam and have close interaction with humans. So beware, phones and food might be snatch away from you if you are not careful.

Gorillas - Back facing us

Golden fur chimpanzee showing off its skills 

Free roaming (I think) civets

Birds enjoying water melons and corns

Having covered half the exhibits, we came to the second part of the safari, where we get to sit in an air-conditioned bus and be driven around free-roaming animals such as tigers, lions and giraffes, simulating a real safari! Really an interesting experience.

We ended the visit feeding the giraffes at our lunch restaurant, before retreating back to our resort to rest.

Vietnam Day 4 - Resort Chill & Beach Day

16 Sep - After the exiting adventure yesterday at VinWonders, today is a day for recharging as we take time to chill & relax at the beach. One lesson learnt was that even if you are hiding under the shade, you still need to put on sunblock as the UV rays will penetrate the umbrellas. We only get to know that when we return back to our rooms after a few hours out to find that we are slightly red all over.

Swing by the sea

Evening time (1730 - 1815) we drop by the bar called the "Library" to enjoy some alcohol and light bites complimentary for Marriott Gold Members. Ambience was nice and time pass by quite fast as we do some whisky coke mixers and down their special inhouse cocktail. 

We ended the day by calling GrabFood for our dinner as the pricing is simply too good to give them a miss.

3Q 2025 Investment Strategy Update

Trump (again) continues weaponizing tariffs to force countries to bow to his demands. This quarter, the focus for Trump is on Pharmaceuticals, where he demands companies to move manufacturing back to USA. Frankly, previous deals signed mean nothing under Trump administration, as he can just change the tariffs % as and when he feels like it. Look at India, they are charged additional 25% tariffs to penalize its trade with Russia beginning 27-Aug-25 under so called "secondary" tariff. China on the other hand will seize this opportunity to replace USA as the soft power leader of the world. Market is still not looking rosy at the moment, with frequent news of companies still right sizing their workforce. 

DJI ended at 46397, an increase of 2303 points (+5.22%) compared to 2Q 2025. For Singapore, STI ended at 4300, an increase of 336 points (+8.47%) compared to last quarter. Banks in Singapore (48.7% STI weightage) continues to drive the STI direction. USA Fed has started their cycle of reducing interest rates, and projects there will be 2 more cuts this year. Banks usually do not do well in an interest rate reduction environment. I think STI may just trade sideways for the rest of the year, with banks likely taking a small hit in their share price.

In this current quarter, I did some loading on USA REIT as the real estate has seem to bottom and start recovering with more companies asking their employees to return back to office and interest rate has started to decrease.

Transaction 1: Subscribe NTT DC REIT IPO shares in July.

With the focus in AI, data center will continue to be in hot demand. 7% projected yield looks enticing enough to invest some money in.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch Kep Pac Oak US REIT shares in July.

Same reason given as above. The USA real estate has seem to start recovering with more companies asking their employees to return back to office and interest rate has started to decrease. Best time to invest more money in before the share price start rising. Besides, this REIT has a solid sponsor and a good management team.

That is all for now. See you all in Q4 2025 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Vietnam Day 3 - VinWonders Phú Quốc

15 Sep - Today is theme park day and we visited VinWonders Phú Quốc which is located just next to the resort where we are staying. The theme park has an area of nearly 50 hectares, divided into 6 large areas with 12 themes related to famous fairy tales and legends in the world and interesting civilizations such as Europe, China, Wild West, warrior villages and aquarium castles. To me, the whole setup seems to be a rip off from Universal Studio and Disney theme parks, not sure if they have the copyrights to do so or not.

We came at the right day and time. Weather is hot and sunny (Thank God for the weather) to allow us to fully explore the park. Our entrance ticket came with a 150,000 dong food voucher, so our lunch is more or less settled. Overall, the park is not that fantastic per say but given the price of the ticket, I don't mind visiting it again, The turtle aquarium is a good place to escape the sun and chill, and the night final show at the castle is interesting as they project pictures on a water wall, together with music, fire and water jets.

Entrance to VinWonders

The castle serving just as a stage

The Wheel of Time

Top of the ferries wheel looking down at turtle aquarium

Moon Jellyfish

Sea Nettle

Cannonball Jellyfish

Stingray

Hammerhead Shark

Turtle Aquarium

Around Western Frontier in a train

Korean Lunch

Sunset catching on top of the wheel

Waiting for night show to begin

Showtime