Apple Mac OS X 10.6, known as Snow Leopard, will be released tomorrow, on August 28th 2009.
This is not a free upgrade for Mac users. USD 29 if you are trying to upgrade from Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). Or you can purchase Mac Box Set – a bundle of Mac OS X 10.6 + iLife 09 + iWork 09 for only USD 169 altogether.
Just a quick press: today Telkomsel announces new price for Apple iPhone 3G 16GB, for only Rp 7,500,000 (and 0% 6-month installment facility).
This is a sign that they still have lots of this iPhone 3G stocks, while they are not ready to sell newer iPhone 3GS in Indonesia.
And, one of the little text in the ads (kompas), is that after user upgrade to iPhone OS 3.0, the 3G phone will be unlocked. It’s a good news if you want to switch to another GSM provider using legal way.
Great Asia Sale from InterContinental Hotel Group offers lowest rates on their 4 to 5 stars hotel chain. We can search cheap room on InterContinental Hotels, Holiday Inn Hotels, and also Crowne Hotels in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Bandung.
Just book a room during this 5 day period, from 17-21 August 2009 for stay anytime between 17 August to 31 October 2009. Don’t forget to select Great Asia Sale in the search preference drop box.
For Singapore Hotels:
| Holiday Inn Atrium
Holiday Inn Park View Crowne Plaza Changi Airport InterContinental Singapore |
 |
SGD 108
SGD 114 SGD 132 SGD 138 |
For Kuala Lumpur Hotel rates from:
| Holiday Inn Melaka
Holiday Inn Glenmarie Kuala Lumpur Crowne Plaza Mutiara Kuala Lumpur |
|
MYR 145
MYR 132 MYR 204 |
And for Jakarta and Bandung Hotels rate from:
| Holiday Inn Bandung
Crowne Plaza Jakarta InterContinental Jakarta MidPlaza |
|
USD 50
USD 50 USD 78 |
Promo rates on more cities will come in near future, including Bangkok hotels, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, etc.
During my previous visit to Europe on July ’09, one night was to sleep in Amsterdam. As some people may know that Amsterdam hotels tend to be expensive compared to other European cities like Paris, Rome, etc. Amsterdam hotel rates are as high as London, in short: most of them are expensive.
One hotel that I had wanted to try in Amsterdam was to stay at citizenM Hotel. If you google a bit about this hotel, the impressions would be chick and well designed. So I took my chance to try this hotel.
citizenM is a new chain hotel from Netherland, now available in 2 locations: citizenM Amsterdam Schipol Airport and citizenM Amsterdam City. If you have time for quick stopover during your flight, citizenM Schipol airport can be your option. It is located only 5 minutes walk from airport arrival hall. But if you prefer to stay in the city, citizenM Amsterdam City is the best option.
I chose citizenM Amsterdam City, located on Prinses Irenestraat, it is behind Amsterdam WTC or Zuid complex. We can take Amsterdam metro number 51 from Amsterdam Centraal Station to Zuid station then walk about 7 minutes to the hotel, or for more convenience we can take tram number 5, stop at Prinses Irenestraat, the hotel is 30 meter from tram stop. Tram journey from Centraal station is about 20 minutes.
Although it is not near Centraal Station (which many travelers prefered), but staying in this hotel was a new experience to me personally. With its minimalistic but technology concious design, affordable price (EUR 80 – 120 per night), I can summary in a short: a very nice sleep.
Hotel exterior is basic, all rectangle glasses in facade. Entering main door, I was greeted with lounge atmosphere. No receptionist because check-in process is self service. There are many computer stations in the lobby area, just find empty one then enter my reservation number in the screen. The menu is very user friendly, but you can ask for available friendly staff help if needed. Computer will ask us to take a hotel keycard from basket then tap it to the reader. This will activate the keycard and assign room number. In the end of this 3 minutes check-in process, a print-out paper will be issued. My room number and wifi password (it’s free) are printed in the paper. Simple and no need to queue for this check-in!
Lobby area is design showcase for this hotel, we can find IKEA like furniture at every corner. There are iMac computers to use for free Internet access. 24-hour canteen is also available to serve food and beverages (a bit pricey!).
Paris offers a lot of sighseeings, from the bronze coloured (official color name is brownish gray) Eiffel Tower, to magnificent Notre Dame Catedral, to the only Disneyland in Europe.
For tourists, the best and convenient way to explore Paris is by underground train, called as Metro and complemented by RER suburban train. 16 Metro lines, together with 5 lines of RER cover almost all part of Paris.
You can download Paris Metro and RER map in PDF format. But for latest and official map and fare, you should consult Paris RATP website.
There are some options in paying this Metro RER fare. The common for tourists is to buy carnette (also known as T+ ticket). It is a small card (domino card size) with magnetic strip on the back. Valid for one journey in inner Paris zone 1, costs EUR 1.60 if you buy it single or a pack of 10 carnette for EUR 11.60 (EUR 5.80 for children). For moderate sighseeing in a day, we may only need 4-5 carnettes so a pack of 10 carnettes should be enough if you only have 2 days in Paris.
