Category: Review It!

Review of anything under the sun except food.

A Trip to Kyoto (17-24 Apr) – Part 7

December 1, 2025November 27, 2025 sweet surrender No Comments

Day 4, it’s time to head back to Osaka from Kyoto. We checked out of Hotel Keihan Kyoto Hachijoguchi, then went to Kyoto Yodobashi for shopping and lunch before taking the Limousine Bus from Kyoto Station to Osaka International Airport.

Lunch at Tsuruhashi Fugetsu in Kyoto Yodobashi

Believe it! It’s my first time having teppanyaki in Japan hahaha…

Heading to Kansai International Airport

Arrived Kansai International Airport

We reached the airport not to take a flight but to take the train to our accommodation in Osaka. Before that, we bought food from the airport. After that, we took the train to Rinku-town station, where our 3D2N accommodation was located.

Hotel Room Tour & Review

Odysis Suites Osaka Airport Hotel is a hotel that is only one stop away from Kansai International Airport. It’s very convenient if your flight is early in the morning. They have an airport shuttle included in the room. Booking is needed. However, it is very far from the city centre. Therefore, only stay here if you’re going to the airport to catch an early flight or during rush hour. It will save you time and eliminate unwanted stress to get to the airport on time and comfortably.

Dotonbori & Shinsekai

After checking into the hotel, we headed out to Dotonbori and Shinsekai for a quick visit. The journey was long, as it was far from the key attractions. Dotonbori was packed with people, while Shinsekai was the opposite.

After dinner at Shinsekai’s McDonald’s, we went back to our hotel. So tired! Called it a night early as we’re heading to Expo 2025 the next day.

Food Porn, Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan, Review It!

My New Laptop after 10 Over Years

August 29, 2025September 4, 2025 sweet surrender No Comments

After so many years… Finally, I got a new laptop at the end of May 2025. I’ve been talking about wanting to get a new laptop since 2020. My budget was below RM2000. In conjunction with the big sale at the local computer shop, I bought HP 15-fc0375AU AMD Ryzen 5 7430U with Radeon Graphics. It’s priced at RM2000+ but after discount, it’s around RM1800. It’s within my budget and beyond my requirements. Not a bad deal at all.

The Unboxing

Here’s the unboxing video:

Quick Review

The Body

It’s not too heavy, about 1.6kg. Quite slim. I got the gold one. The only unit left at the branch. I went to another branch earlier and it was out of stock. I had to asked them to reserve for me at another branch. I don’t mind the colour though. The screen size is good enough. It has a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) anti-glare screen.

The Inside

The laptop is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 processor with 16GB DDR4 RAM and a 512GB SSD. I wish the storage to be bigger. It runs on Windows 11.

The Battery

For the battery life, it lasted over 5 hours (or maybe 6-7 hours or more depending on the tasks) of non-stop usage. This includes the standard word processing, browsing the Internet, streaming videos, playing games on browser, graphic design, and video editing. If I’m not mistaken, when it’s about 20%, it took less than 2 hours to be fully-charged when it’s in used. Some said it could last 15 hours, well… It really depends, mine never lasted that long as my laptop is on more than 10 hours a day.

The Keyboard & Touchpad

The keyboard is a full-size back-lit keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad. I hardly use the numeric pad and the backlit features. I’m still trying to get use to the positions of the keys. Meanwhile, the touchpad is quite sensitive but I hardly use it as I’m using a mouse.

The Audio

The audio quality is decent. Not the best but good enough. I use an earbuds most of the time.

The Ports

There’s 1 USB Type-C port which I don’t use. It supports data transfer only and does not support charging or external monitors. While the 2 USB Type-A ports are not enough for me as my mouse had already taken up one port. The other port is to connect to my phone for charging and data transfer. I need remove the phone cable when I need to attach my external harddisk or thumbdrive.

Oh! It has one headphone/microphone combo jack and HDMI port. It also includes built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for wireless connections. Of course the AC smart pin port too.

There’s no card reader! ARGHHH!

The Webcam

The Webcam, HP True Vision 720p HD camera, comes with temporal noise reduction and integrated dual array digital microphones. The image quality is not up to my standard but what do you expect? Then again, I hardly use this feature. I do like the camera cover though. I don’t need to stick a sticker on it anymore.

In Conclusion

Overall, it’s enough for my usage. I hope I didn’t miss out anything hahaha… Just a quick review after using it for about 3 months. Will add on if I found anything extra.

HP 15-fc0375AU, Review It!, Tech Stuffs

A Trip to Kyoto (17-24 Apr) – Part 2

July 7, 2025July 7, 2025 sweet surrender 1 Comment

After a long commute and going around Kyoto, it’s time to check into our hotel first at Hotel Keihan Kyoto Hachijoguchi. However, since we arrived early, we couldn’t go into our rooms yet. We left our luggage at the hotel. Then, we went for lunch and visited some tourist attractions.

Quick Hotel Keihan Kyoto Hachijoguchi Tour

Check Out a List of Hotel Keihan Near Kyoto Station

Lunch at AEON Mall Kyoto

First stop was AEON Mall (1 Nishikujo Toriiguchicho, Minami Ward, Kyoto, 601-8417, Japan). We didn’t visit the mall. We just went there to recharge for a bit after a very long commute. Seriously! I was so tired. I felt like the surroundings were having tremors. It was me! -.-” Anyway, we went there for lunch and to use the toilet before heading to Gion (祇園), Kyoto’s most famous geisha district.

Just Walked Around Gion (祇園)

We took a bus to Gion. It’s my first time going on a public bus in Japan hehehe… When we arrived Gion, we’re greeted with so many human beings! HAHAHAHAH! It’s peak hour for the tourists to come out to play. If you don’t want to be in the crowd, do come here early in the morning.

That’s the end of day 1 in Kyoto. Flat from all the commuting…

Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan, Review It!

A Trip to Kyoto (17-24 Apr) – Part 1

June 28, 2025June 28, 2025 sweet surrender 1 Comment

It’s our first family trip to Japan. We flew to Osaka and spent most of our time in Kyoto. We started our journey early in the morning of 17th April from home to Kuching International Airport and flew to Kuala Lumpur International Airport with Malaysia Airlines for transit. Not for transit to Osaka, but to Ho Chi Minh, then to Osaka with Vietnam Airlines.

If we’re to take Malaysia Airlines or Air Asia, we would arrive on the same day. However, due to the expensive flight fares of our national/local airlines, we opted for a cheaper option with a longer time to reach Osaka. We only arrived in Osaka on the morning of 18th April.

Why Vietnam Airlines?

We bought Vietnam Airlines tickets to Osaka because it’s so much cheaper, as it happened to be on offer. It’s an average of less than RM1500 per pax for a return trip (KUL-SGN-KIX). There were 8 of us, 6 adults and 2 children. The cost would be quite high if we were to fly with our national/local airlines. It was between RM2300-3000 per pax because of peak season. Even Air Asia was more expensive than Malaysia Airlines after adding all the add-ons.

However, we bought Malaysia Airlines return tickets for Kuching-Kuala Lumpur. I redeemed my flight miles and topped up with cash. Aside from that, we had to stay a night in an airport hotel when we returned. Actually, we didn’t have to, but we’re just playing it safe in case there’s any delay with the flight back from Osaka to Kuala Lumpur and we miss our connecting flight to Kuching. Furthermore, there was no codeshare among them and flight tickets were booked separately.

We came in from 3 different locations and gathered at KLIA. Four drove from Ipoh to KLIA; one from Singapore to KLIA; and three from Kuching to KLIA. Even with that, the total average of our flight ticket and accommodation was less than RM2K per pax. Still a lot cheaper than flying with our national/local airlines. The only downside was the long travel time. We only got into our hotel room in Kyoto after 30 hours plus of commuting. Exhausting, but it’s OK.

Experience with Vietnam Airlines

Arrived in Osaka & Kyoto

Stay tuned for part 2.

Anyway, I’ve updated my trip until day 2 on my Instagram, you can check it out there.

Going Places, Land of the Rising Sun - Japan, Review It!

Tomahawk Cocktail Bar & Steakhouse in Yarm

January 14, 2025 sweet surrender No Comments

Almost forgot to share this. We went to Tomahawk Cocktail Bar & Steakhouse in Yarm for dinner one of those evenings. It’s our first time dining here. It’s dubbed the best steakhouse in Yarm. Yes, it is not bad. At least the best steak I had so far in the UK. Price wise, well… For us Malaysians… If you go and convert to MYR… It’s really NOT CHEAP! Hahaha! Read my quick review below.