Travelling to Taiwan for just $250.

*Sale has ended
Good offer must share.
Scoot has been giving out generous offers for their flights the past few months. One of the destinations i've always wanted to go is Taiwan. In the past, flights to Taiwan would normally cost $400-$500 even on budget airlines. Now, the competition is so intense that Scoot, a new budget airline and a subsidiary of Singapore airlines is offering a two way ticket to Taiwan for just $250(tax inclusive). Sale period is from now till 09/08/13 11:59pm. Travel period is from 7th August 2013 to 30th November 2013. They have other destinations too so check out their website for more information. Competition among airline companies is benefiting consumers like me :)

I've booked my tickets for Taiwan at an even cheaper rate 1 month back. They had a promotion for a free return fare when you book a flight with them. Mine cost just $200/pax for a two way trip. Looking forward to my long awaited trip and a well deserve rest in a few weeks time with my family. Travelling is one of my favourite hobby/interest. Even though saving money is important, i believe we should enjoy once in awhile too. This can be done in a budgeted and cheap way and still you get the enjoyment. I'm planning that my trip will cost less than $1000 for a 8 days trip. Will be doing an update of my trip when i come back. Well, i guess this is part of budgeting and money management while still enjoying life. I feel its good to share it out with readers of my blog. So stay tune!! Follow my blog and receive updates of new post by entering your email at the top right of my blog. I'm glad that more and more people have subscribed to my blog and i will write up more good articles and post for your reading and learning pleasures.

Wishing our Muslim friends Selamat Hari Raya and my fellow Singapore friends a happy national day. To the rest, happy long weekends ahead.

Divested my first US investment stock - Dryships

I've divested partially my first US stock that i bought which is Dryships.

From its corporate website:
"DryShips Inc. is an owner of drybulk carriers and tankers that operate worldwide.

Through its majority owned subsidiary, Ocean Rig UDW Inc., DryShips owns and operates 10 offshore ultra deepwater drilling units, comprising of 2 ultra deepwater semisubmersible drilling rigs and 8 ultra deepwater drillships, 3 of which remain to be delivered to Ocean Rig during 2013 and 1 during 2015.

DryShips owns a fleet of 42 drybulk carriers (including newbuildings), comprising 10 Capesize, 28 Panamax, 2 Supramax and 2 newbuilding Very Large Ore Carriers (VLOC) with a combined deadweight tonnage of approximately 4.4 million tons, and 10 tankers, comprising 4 Suezmax and 6 Aframax, with a combined deadweight tonnage of over 1.3 million tons"

I bought this stock back in November 2012 at a low of $1.52. It was more of a speculative play when i bought it. Predicting for a recovery in the shipping sector. Have been watching this stock for 1 year beforehand and when it suddenly went down to $1.50, i managed to scoop it up at $1.52.

This stock was trading at a high of $120 before it collapsed during the financial crisis in 2008/2009. Scary isn't it? I doubt anyone who bought at the peak could ever recover back their money. Anyway, i divested at $2.03 for a 31% ROI. Got back all my capital plus profits and still left some shares inside. Reason for the divestment is to reduce my risk exposure and still be able to enjoy the ride up if a recovery does happen. Now that my capital is recovered, i do not have to worry any more. The waiting game is not so tough from now onwards.

Replica of Paris in China becomes ghost town

China property prices have skyrocket in the past few years. Developers who want a part of this action build up massive towns with impressive buildings in china hoping to earn some profits. However, it looks like the towns that are built are becoming vacant and now known as ghost towns. Is this the start of a property market crash?

One example is this impressive town developed by Zhejiang Guangsha Co. Ltd. It was started in 2007 and one of the major construction is a replica of the Eiffel Tower and parisan houses. It is designed to accommodate at least 10000 people but remains sparsely populated until now. (Source: Yahoo news sg)

*Photos by Reuters