Additional flights and additional seats

Vietjet has recently added nearly 750 flights, providing 154,800 additional seats to serve rising demand during the peak travel period around the region. This capacity boost primarily focuses on services departing from Vietnam’s largest city of Ho Chi Minh, catering to travellers going home for the holidays in the Northern and Central provinces such as Hanoi, Tuy Hoa (Phu Yen), Chu Lai (Quang Nam), Dong Hoi (Quang Binh), Quy Nhon (Binh Dinh), Da Nang, Hue, Vinh (Nghe An), Thanh Hoa, and Hai Phong. 

This increased flight capacity will also cater to the increasing travel demand to and from Vietnam’s top tourist destinations, such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Phu Quoc, Hue, Da Nang, Nha Trang, and Da Lat. International travel is expected to peak during this time as travellers make use of their long holidays in Vietnam, China, South Korea, and Singapore. The surge in international travel during Chinese Lunar New Year period is notable, as travellers ride on their extended Lunar New Year holiday break in Vietnam, Malaysia, China, South Korea, and Singapore for spring travels.

Expanded International Flight Network

Vietjet has proactively expanded its international flight network in the last two months, they have added destinations like Shanghai, Vientiane, Siem Reap (Cambodia), Busan (South Korea), Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide (Australia). Singaporeans can now enjoy a journey to Vietnam and experience the culture and festivities in destinations such as Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi before continuing the next leg of their journey to the multiple destinations offered by Vietjet. Furthermore, on the first day of the Lunar New Year (10 February 2024), Vietjet will also commence the direct service linking Ho Chi Minh City with Chengdu in China. These new destinations diversify options for Vietnamese, Singaporean, Malaysian and other international travellers. 

Remarkable Growth for Vietjet in 2023

 In 2023, Vietjet experienced remarkable growth, operating 133,000 flights and catering to 25.3 million passengers onboard (excluding Vietjet Thailand), reflecting a significant Year-on-Year (YoY) surge of 183%. Of these passengers, more than 7.6 million travelled on international flights. The airline also continued to expand its flight network, introducing 33 new international and domestic routes, bringing the total number of routes to 125, including 80 international and 45 domestic routes. 

* Information and pictures courtesy of Vietjet, Rothman & Roman (Singapore) and GO Communications (Malaysia) *

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Photography – Business and Content Creation 

Photography business

It has been a very tough and challenging journey running a photography business, just like running any other business. In an already intense and stressful competitive market facing a slowdown in world economy, we are facing an avalanche of new technological developments and innovations in generative AI, that is going to disrupt the photography and creatives market even further.

While some of my photography friends might not agree or would dispute my views, a stand-alone photography business might not be the way to go for running a photography business. The amount and intensity of change, adapt and adopt is going to exponentially increase.

Change of Old Guard 

Although I do take care of my photography cameras, lenses and gears, as much as possible, there will be wear and tear, along with technological improvements and changes over the years especially in the digital imaging world. All the above also coincide with new changes in my visual storytelling and content creation. 

Hello Canon EOS R6 Mark II, Goodbye Canon EOS 1D X Mark II! I have sentimental attachments to the EOS 1D series, this Canon camera model has always been an icon and part of my photography branding. Another story on this for another day.

Photography – Personal and Content Creation

The personal side of my photography gives me an avenue away from many things, not just away from the photography business side of things, a therapeutic time away from the stress and pressures.

Walking to my nearby neighbourhood areas, taking sunsets, cityscapes, nature and wildlife, with my camera and lenses, it was my personal time away from the hustles of running a small business.

Travel and Travel Related Content Creation

International Travel

There’s nothing to share here as I haven’t travelled out of Singapore since 2019. While I am not in a hurry to travel (Yes, I do have some pent-up frustrations in travel). Therefore, I think the time is now for me to get away from Singapore in Q3 2023, likely a regional trip first and hopefully a medium to long haul trip in Q4 2023. As for my travel destinations, I would keep under wraps for now.

Travel Related Content Creation

While I have been producing and creating visual storytelling articles regularly, there aren’t enough for my travel related content creation segments. Although I haven’t travelled overseas for a few years, that is not an excuse. 

An area for me to look more closely into, how and what kind of local travel stories that I would want to share about to friends and travellers visiting Singapore. This should be my “homework” before I return to travel visual storytelling and content creation when I relaunch my travel photography adventures overseas.

My photo walks haven’t officially take off as planned, time to re-ignite and start working on them again.

Plans for Q3 2023 & H2 2023

In Q1 2023, if you recall, my Yearly Theme (Photography and Travel) for 2023 is “Explore”. I feel that this year’s theme fits in nicely, I am exploring new avenues and directions in an increasingly difficult and challenging world economy and geo-political situations. 

Photography business

I never and I usually will not go into business specifics here, just like the Chinese saying, “The business field is just like a battle field”. My thoughts and views in a nutshell, we better evolve, change and adapt faster. We can’t just depend on one skill/expertise alone anymore. 

New personal project – Featuring and interviewing creatives, artists, photographers, heritage 

Earlier in this year 2023, I had an inspiration to feature and interview creatives, artists, photographers, history, heritage, preservation and culture community. Through this personal project, I hope to be able to help them with more publicity through my visual stories and writing, that’s also possibly a cross mixed media production with the artist’s artworks with my photography, as well as future business opportunities for me.

Travel related content creation, collaboration and partnerships

On top of creating more travel related content creation that I mentioned earlier, collaboration and partnerships have proved to be pretty difficult and tricky to breakthrough into. From competitors who guard their turf, time needed to establish stronger ties and limited opportunities, I have and I will continue to strive for a breakthrough. 

Last but not least

More than just my photography and travel segments, please do visit and check out my Reflecting H1 2023 & Q2 2023 (Technology, Business and Personal) on my TGH Technology and Business portal/blog.  

Although I will not be able to write down and share everything that happened or took place during Q2 2023 and H1 2023, compiling and writing them down serves as a form of diary, collection of memories and moments. Neither would I be able to share all my plans for Q3 2023 and H2 2023, just some key highlights.

Some stuff/matters are also more private and confidential that I do not want or wish to be shared on social media. 

The content, reflections, thoughts, and views might be lengthy and boring to others, even to my friends. Some are probably busy posting on social media platforms flooded with media and videos, we need to know what is happening to them, they don’t want to know what is happening to others.

Writing down my reflections, thoughts, views and upcoming plans are more than a good way of regular writing, constantly honing and improving my writing skills, this is also therapeutic in its own ways.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for making it to this line, reading my lengthy writing and ranting (sometimes). 

* Photos shot with Canon EOS R6 Mark II *

** A TGH Photography x Canon EOS R6 Mark II Explorer Series Production **

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A Recap – Yearly Theme 2022: Onward

My Yearly Theme for 2022 was “Onward”, moving into 2022 from 2021, I felt that this was most suitable at the point in time as the world was edging closer towards reopening of the economy and lifting of risk management measures for the global pandemic COVID-19 that impacted us so much from 2020 to around mid 2022.

Photography / Visual Storytelling

Business/Commercial Photography

This sector has small improvements, however there is a lot of room for growth and improvement especially in a rebuilding phase as we emerge from a post global pandemic period. Through my networking this year, some project ideas came up, some discussions are ongoing, keeping my fingers crossed that they can take off in 2023.

Training and Consultancy 

I mentioned about these two areas previously. They came about from my diversification of my photography and content creation suite of services. These two segments are more private and confidential versus some of the other points that I wrote down here.

The potential for growth and expansion is there for these two areas, going to build on them in Year 2023.

6 years in the business (2017-2022) | Renewed another 3 years 

Before the end of the Year 2022, I was sent a reminder email that I need to renew my sole proprietorship business registration for 2023 onwards. In the blink of an eye, I went through 6 years in the photography business from 2017 to 2022, and during this tenure, around 2.5 years of my time was caught totally off guard and thrown off my tracks when the global pandemic hit in 2020 to mid 2022. 

Running a small business is never easy, it’s already that tough and difficult. This global pandemic situation was a real setback, the life and business lessons were huge for the past 2.5 years. The next few years are not going to be easy with a new set of dark clouds and challenges facing the world economy.

Dark Clouds/Challenges looming ahead in 2023

In this year 2022, just when the world is relieved and happy to be recovering, reopening and moving away from this global pandemic that turned the world upside down for the past 2.5 to 3 years, the world economy is facing a new of economic challenges (high inflation with a recession looming over us) and political instabilities in some parts of the world.

Personal Photography

Visual Storytelling/Creative side of things

I have been a visual storyteller since I started this TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog back in 2006. My visual storytelling has evolved over time, improvements, as well as changes in my writing styles and approaches with my photography. 

From publishing photo books and photography zines, journaling and simple designing through handy apps such as Canva, I have explored more on the creative side of things over the decade. In a world so much driven by social media, some of us are inclining to return back to basics, the craft, art and eye for photography and creative stuff, through hands on art and craft work or analogue/film photography.

Analogue / Film Photography

I recently inherited some old film cameras from a former commercial photographer in the film era,  his nephew is my fellow photographer friend Chester Tan, also a fellow technology writer and talented musician.

When I started off film photography more than 3.5 decades back, medium format (MF) film photography was out of my reach. Now I have an opportunity to enter into MF film photography, as well as a return to analogue/film photography.

On this story, I would share more updates in another article. 

Videography / Filmmaking 

I have been slowly building up this segment, as a complement to my photography, visual storytelling and content creation segments. I am looking to produce my own short works with help from other filmmakers/videographers in both personal and commercial projects. 

Some themes that I am looking at are cinematic travel vlogs, exploration and heritage projects. I didn’t manage to produce more as I would like to in Year 2022, I would be planning some projects  for Year 2023.

Of Photo books, visual storybooks and zines

Launch of 2nd photography zine – TGH Photography Therapy Zine and Playbook 

This took me a bit longer than I expected, I officially announced the launch of my 2nd photography zine in November 2022. On a personal basis, this was a publication that meant something deep and personal to me. It’s not perfect, it’s more of a personal achievement to overcome and get myself out of a dark period. 

If you would like to purchase it, my 2nd photography zine is available for purchase a physical and/or digital copy on MagCloud. 

What’s next in 2023?

After publishing my 2nd photography zine, I am planning to publish more in the year 2023, I would share more in details when I finalise my projects and approaches. Just a short teaser, I am exploring a new photo book (Theme: Old playgrounds or sunsets) or a travel visual storybook (Hokkaido travel adventures) or a new zine collection (B&W street photography)? Or a combination of all of them?  

Travel

International Travel

Although my huge massive travel wanderlust is urging me to get away from Singapore, to a nearby regional destination at the very least. I decided not to join the travel deprived crowds when many countries border restrictions were lifted along with lowering of risk management measures. 

Costs of traveling is one of the factors for consideration, getting my photography business, content creation and writing back on track were my key priorities in 2022, thus I pushed back traveling overseas in 2022, as much as I would love to.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that I would be able to travel in Q2 2023.

Local Travel

Nobody really gives a look at local travel in Singapore (Do we even have a domestic tourism market? Some might ask). During the pandemic lockdown period, Singaporeans did manage to explore more of Singapore (in both good and bad ways), I am re-exploring Singapore again, nature, outdoors and old places. 

Something Personal

Recovery from an uneventful down time in 2021

A few uneventful events got me spiralling down into a rabbit hole in 2021, it took me a while to get myself out of that situation, allowing me to enter 2022 with a clean slate of mind, personal well-being and mental health. 

JOMO versus FOMO

JOMO = Joy of missing out, FOMO = Fear of missing out. The world of social media in recent times had been getting more messy and complicated, oversharing, excess showing off, all wanting fame, likes and first to post/share. 

There was a time when I was FOMO, however I got so delusional on some aspects of social media, even though I am still actively using social media platforms, just more selective. I am moving into JOMO mode.

Maybe JOMO would free me up from those shackles, allowing me to concentrate on honing my craft, creativity and writing even further and better, as a writer, a visual storyteller.  

There were still struggles

I am not going to paint a beautiful scenario or picture, like people posting on their FB or social media platforms, smiling, enjoying life and living a fun and exciting lifestyle.

There were still struggles over the whole year 2022, hidden away from social media. Not many people or nobody can really know what I am going through.

Year 2022 Theme: Onward vs Year 2022 in Reality 

Year 2022 in reality was definitely Onward for me, even though the economy wasn’t giving us a smooth and easy recovery, I have to ride out the usual ups and downs like the rest, even as the world economy is working towards reopening and returning back to a more normal living of pre-pandemic days.  

Last But Not Least

Reflecting Year 2022 in my photography and travel segments is just one half of my equation of my Year 2022 in Review. The other half of my equation of my Year 2022 in Review can be found here in this article: Reflecting Year 2022 (Technology | Business | Personal) on my TGH Technology and Business Portal/Blog.

I would like to say a big Thank You to the various camera, travel, tourism, food and hospitality brands/organisations and PR agency folks that I worked closely with in Year 2022, to my readers for their utmost support for this year.

Wishing you a Happy New Year 2023! Good luck and all the best in the new year ahead!

The post Reflecting Year 2022 (Photography | Travel) appeared first on TGH Photography and Travel Portal/Blog.

This is time for family gatherings especially for those whose home country is elsewhere, those that are able to make the trip back home and be reunited with family, relatives and friends after close to a 2 years hiatus whereby international travel was curtailed. This ongoing COVID19 pandemic has been very disruptive, not just in economic impacts, the social, emotional and mental impacts are just as huge and disruptive. 

Since I haven’t travel overseas for the past 2 years like most of us, I would have to use back my old travel photograph of this iconic Christmas Tree from Biei, Hokkaido. I hope to visit Japan again, back to Hokkaido again for spring, summer and late winter seasons, photographing and documenting my personal travel photography project on four seasons of Hokkaido. 

I would also like to take this time to thank various camera, travel companies, travel community partners, technology brands, organisations, pr agencies, fellow photographer friends and supporters for this great working relationships, friendships and support for my photography and travel portal/blog during this very difficult and turbulent year for all of us.

Thanks to Chef Keith for hosting a small of friends with his delicious BBQ roast at his house earlier in December, it was an awesome time gathering, feasting and chatting.

Last but not least, a very big thank you from the bottom of my heart to those few friends that helped me and pulled me out during a very dark period that I went through during May and June 2021. 

Wishing all a Merry Christmas 2021 and Happy Holidays! Enjoy and have fun, feasting and spending time with your family and loved ones! 

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Having a passion for the outdoors, nature, wildlife and travel, I would like to help spread the theme for Earth Day 2021. Everyone of us can play a part, to make a difference in the world we are living in today and for our future generations. 

As we mark Earth Day 2021, I am sharing my wildlife and nature photographs that I shot in Singapore over the years with more recent photographs that I shot in the first quarter of 2021 and last year 2020. Although Singapore is a small country by land size, we do have an abundance of nature and wildlife among us here in Singapore, co-existing and living together. 

More photographs of the wildlife and nature areas that I photographed and documented in Singapore can be viewed inside my Flickr photography collections, shot with various Canon cameras that I owned, the Canon EOS RP, or reviewed, the Canon EOS R5, EOS R6 and EOS M6 Mark II, part of my Canon Explorer Series Production.  

It’s a delicate balance between preserving and protecting our nature and wildlife versus a country’s economic development and growth. Not just preserving and protecting, let’s reduce wastage of resources and up our game on recycling and upcycling. 

Not just today on 22nd April 2021 for Earth Day 2021, let’s all begin to mark the start of a new era whereby we restore our Earth, making a difference to the world that we live in, transforming it to become an even better home for the world to live in. 

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Why is travel insurance important and why do you need to get your own travel insurance?

Suffice to say that the travel industry has been facing steep obstacles trying to adapt to the current state of the world making traveling during this year quite a challenge for all of us. With that in mind, it is important now more than ever to have the necessary coverage for your trip in the event that any delays or cancellations occur.

The best travel insurance policy for you is going to be the one that offers the specific coverage you need at a price you can readily afford. Here’s a rundown of the most common types of travel insurance, as well as some of the optional benefits you may want to look into.

• Cancellation coverage: as its name implies, covers you for pre-paid, non-refundable expenses under a fixed set of circumstances outlined in your policy. You can make a claim when you have to cancel a trip due to a health emergency or illness, for example. Depending on the policy you choose, you may also be able to make a claim if you’re laid off from work or you’re called for jury duty. 

         Some credit cards will even cover your expenses sometimes if you were to cancel last minute.

• Interruption coverage: This protects you in the event you have to return home due to an emergency once you’ve already started your trip. It will pay for the cost of getting you home and getting you back to your destination once you’re able to travel again. 

If the list of covered cancellation reasons under basic cancellation coverage seems too limited to you, you might want to opt for CFAR or “Cancel For Any Reason”. It offers the fullest coverage but may only make sense for you if your calendar is subject to change at a moment’s notice. 

• Lost, stolen, damaged, and delayed luggage: This is one of the most common, and annoying, travel-related mishaps. Pay attention to coverage limits and increase yours as necessary. Even mundane items like laptops and cell phones have replacement costs beyond the limits set by basic policies, so be careful to read your policy closely to be sure your most expensive possessions are fully protected. 

Whether you choose travel insurance for your international or domestic trip, make sure you understand exactly what’s covered. There are different categories for basic and special coverage. Be sure to check out this article from Money.com who provided the information for this article and make sure you understand the fine print before booking your next trip. 

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First quarter of 2020 was cautious, start of a new era, a new decade, cautious on how the economy would pan out with potential slower growth and concerns for market downturn. As for my photography business, it was a slow start and I was realigning business plans and strategies. On my personal/leisure photography front, there were a few major community events (Chinese New Year 2020 at Chinatown, Light to Night Festival 2020, River Hongbao 2020, Wan Qing Festival of Spring 2020, Battle for Singapore 2020 tours, Arts in Your Neighbourhood 2020) that I attended before Covid-19 spread changed the whole landscape.

As we all knew, second quarter was circuit breaker plus extended circuit breaker in Singapore. In a nutshell, working from home (WFH) and home based learning (HBL) were a new normal, some businesses took a huge hit, closure of businesses, job losses, retrenchments, pay cuts were commonly heard during this period. For photography businesses, we experienced the impacts and we were not able to conduct our business. This period was really stressful and difficult, on both professional and personal level.

Moving out from extended circuit breaker, phase 1 of post circuit breaker in June followed by phase 2 shortly after, this marked the start of a slow and much needed recovery to kickstart the economy again. Things are not and will not be the same as before pre Covid-19. Safety measures and strict regulations are in place for businesses to follow and implement. On the other hand, the severity of this current downturn has affected the whole economy, any business deals and transactions will not be back up fast and furious as businesses are looking at budget cuts and cost saving measures during this very difficult and challenging period. Personal and leisure photography during that period was pretty much confined to home and they could be viewed inside my Canon EOS M6 Mark II review article.

On the topic of travel, international travel is not in any of my immediate plans, I can only dream and plan for H2 2021, keeping my fingers crossed that a vaccine for Covid-19 would be available and the world can slowly start to return back to normal, although it will be a new normal for the world. I would leave the discussion on impacts and changes to world tourism and travel for another day, in another article dedicated to this discussion. 

Domestic travel, in the context of Singapore and its land size, doesn’t really ring a bell at all probably for many people, versus countries that have different states, prefectures and their citizens can travel interstate or across the country to visit.

However, while Singapore is really small in land size, we can do something about our own domestic travel/tourism, it’s just not domestic tourism per se, reference to other parts of the world. I am looking at doing my own “Explore your own backyard” theme instead, basically, it’s a continuation of my years of exploring my local neighbourhoods, just to compile, update and present in a manner that I would need to plan first.

Back to the my photography business in the post circuit breaker period, some changes are taking place, plans and strategies have gone back to the drawing board to navigate and manoeuvre during this very difficult and challenging waters ahead. The Covid-19 pandemic has definitely open up the case for business diversification that some people may not agree even in this modern and constantly changing world, they still believe in only specialising in one industry/skill/business.

Some keywords for you to ponder, digital agency and content creation, travel marketing, digital marketing, filmmaker.

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For World Photography Day, let’s pay it forward and pass it on, give fellow photographers a shoutout, network and connect together! From commercial photography, to collaboration projects, documentary, leisure and personal photography, I am always striving to learn more and also to improve on my photography skills, knowledge and experiences.

From my latest TGH Photography x Canon EOS RP Explorer series production, to publishing my own photography zines, a book on my travel stories and travel photography, I hope that my diverse photography works would constantly be Delighting You Always!

Portfolio: https://www.tghphotography.com

Photography and Travel portal/blog: http://blog.photojournalist-tgh.tv/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TanGengHuiPhotography/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tangenghui/

500px: https://500px.com/tangenghui

Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tangenghui/

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Inspired by creative illustrators, artists and travel writers, I am slowly learning and evolving my travelers notebook, travel writing and journaling, accompanied by the classy and beautiful leathercraft works. Through my Instagram journey and sharing, you would be able to observe the changes and growth in this creative segment since I started this personal travel writing and journaling journey.

For somebody like me who doesn’t come across as a creative talent in drawing and illustration, I am slowly opening up and releasing my inner creative drawing and travel writing on the blank notebook papers inside my travelers notebook. While at times, I can’t seem to draw and sketch as beautifully like an artist, I shall do it my own style and design.

After discovering washi tapes and ink stamps, I slowly started to learn more ways to decorate and describe my travel and photography adventures along with them. An amazing process and journey, not rushing into it, searching and choosing washi tapes and ink stamps in the context of travel and photography.

Returning back to the old school system seems like a blessing and a gateway to appreciating the beautiful world out there without the madness, pressure and  running the rat race, fueled by internet, social media, greed, fame and narcissism. The relentless and brutal world out there took our life and soul away for money and fame. This is the time, to take stock and make changes.

Writing, traveling, journaling, photography, arts and craft, they are giving me a new hope, a new direction and personal goals to work on. All these would fuel my inner mind, heart and soul, unleashing the creative person inside me that I never knew that I have, all thanks to this book written by Fernando Gros, titled “No Missing Tools”, a book that I am very thankful for and here’s my book review for the book! Along with other books, from travel to minimalism, and ikigai – finding my purpose in life, I am able to appreciate more things in life.

Follow me on my Instagram and Facebook Page on my travelers notebook, journaling, travel writing and leathercraft collection journey. I hope to share more creative illustration, travel adventure stories and enriching experiences that would blow you off and away into your travel wanderlust. Over time, I hope to add more photos into my Flickr photo album from my adventures in travel writing, journaling with travelers notebook and leathercraft workds.

A lot of work in progress, it will be a never ending journey, as I continue to trek forward and upward, expanding my travel writing and travel photography. I am seeking and generating more different and unique experiences with my travel writing and travel photography, a travel wanderlust I am, with my own travel stories book to be published in the near future.

Come walk with me, through my lens and  travel stories, let me bring you on a travel wanderlust adventure in many beautiful places far far away, along with my travelers notebook, journaling, travel writing and leathercraft.

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