China Airlines Checked Baggage Allowance is 40 Kg

Setting the Scene

If you were booking a flight with China Airlines using any third party website and are muddled by the discrepancies between baggage allowance mentioned on the China Airlines website and your ticket, please continue reading. Else, you can still read and it might solve any other related query. ;)

The ISSUE

China Airlines has a clear mention about the Baggage Allowance on its website as shown below which states that Economy tickets have a Checked Baggage Allowance of 30 Kgs without any limit on the number of units. However, any single bag should not exceed 32 Kgs even if extra luggage allowance is purchased. (I am not considering the Americas, USA and Canada trips.)

Image Source - https://www.china-airlines.com/au/en/fly/prepare-for-the-fly/baggage/baggage-rules

Reality Check

Now, most of the travel websites will actually show a Checked Baggage Allowance of 40 Kgs for Economy and Premium Economy Bookings through China Airlines.  The allowance is real and indeed great, but how do you know for sure?

EaseMyTrip DisturbedMySleep

I had booked my ticket from New Delhi to Brisbane through EaseMyTrip website. After several failed attempts to get in touch with EaseMyTrip Phone Customer Care followed by some email exchanges, they gave a final word that my Checked Baggage Allowance is 40 Kgs but limited to only 1 unit. Despite quoting the 32 Kg rule and the 30 Kg allowance from the official website, EaseMyTrip customer care representative decided to stick to his final verdict of Single 40 Kg unit.

Skype - The Saviour

Finally, the query was resolved when I made a Skype Call to China Airlines headquartered in Taipei. And they confirmed that the allowance was indeed 40 Kgs without any limit on the number of units, though they didn't confirm why their website has gone nuts.

Reflection

I think all the tickets booked in India for China Airlines are somehow the "Special Price" tickets and have this extra Checked Baggage Allowance. The fact that it is nowhere explicitly stated whether it is a Special Price Ticket or some other Business Gimmick Ticket along with its corresponding effect on the Baggage Allowance, it became too hard to figure out what the actual allowance was.

Verdict

China Airlines immediately needs to update their website with proper details.
EaseMyTrip needs to revisit its HR policy and employ people who might actually care for the customer.

Note

If you landed here and it proved useful, please add a comment.

Any suggestions, corrections, doubts, concerns and queries are most welcome.

Have an Awesome Journey! Cheers!

Completely Online Marriage Registration in Uttar Pradesh (UP) @ INR 10 and in 10 minutes

I am putting up this post especially because this information is so hidden on the internet that I had to realize it the hard way (that is by visiting the registrar's office and reading the notices on wall - not that hard a way, but still ;-).

I think it is mainly because there are too many organisations, lawyers and third parties making easy money out of registration process (INR 5000 is kind of standard price) and Google bombards you with such search results. Secondly, government after once introducing this technical advancement didn't put in efforts to advertise it - again this could be attributed to previous reason. Lastly, UP is relatively more fond of Hindi language and their official website for marriage and property registration is completely in Hindi - and this doesn't really go hand in hand with Google search.

Getting to the point now:

Marriage registration in Uttar Pradesh is possible if and only if - either place of marriage is UP or one of the applicants' residence is in UP.
The website - http://igrsup.gov.in/ provides you with two methods of complete and partial online marriage registration (हिन्दू विवाह पंजीकरण).

Completely Online

• Aadhaar Based - Registration is based on Aadhaar Card - so if both the applicants (the couple I mean) don't have their Aadhaar IDs or registered mobile number for receiving OTP, they can reconsider reading this post further. I would still suggest opting for this method of registration, as getting Aadhaar is way too easier these days.
• Direct link - http://igrsup.gov.in/igrsup/userMarriageRegistrationMenuSub  - Most of the information is available on the website itself and I won't rewrite here. A few extra pointers follow though.
• Language - The marriage certificate that one gets after completing the registration process is delivered in your e-mailbox in both Hindi as well as Englilsh. If one of the applicants' Aadhaar Card has regional language instead of Hindi (along with English version) in Aadhaar information, for example, Punjabi for Punjab based Aadhaar Cards, then the Hindi version of marriage certificate will have Punjabi written in the auto-filled spaces, which ideally doesn't make any sense, but one still gets the English version right which is widely accepted.
• Photo Upload - Despite following the criteria of 40KB photo size limit and file format as jpg/jpeg, I faced issues in making the website accept the photo upload. It ultimately worked with the photos which I borrowed from the Aadhaar card pdf - which were quite low resolution and low size.
• Stamping - The certificate delivered online over email doesn't require any stamping as is also mentioned on the certificate itself. Due to limited publicity of this online registration process, there is a lack of acceptance of this online certificate as it doesn't bear a physical stamp from marriage registrar. This is really crazy but yes it is truth. Even, the immigration agents create doubts in using this certificate instead of the one with the stamp.
• Costs INR 10 - This is really important to know that marriage registration costs only INR 10, which one can pay through SBI internet banking (this is the only one that works as of now). Hence, it saves you from getting fleeced by the lawyers and third parties who charge at least INR 5000 for the same.

Partially Online

• Office Based - The applicants' information is updated online along with the scanned copies of DOB and Address proofs and photos. The applicants then need to visit the registrar's office as selected in the online form along with the original documents and some forms.
• Direct link - http://igrsup.gov.in/igrsup/userMarriageRegistration - Most of the information is available on the website itself about application process, hence won't be repeated here, a few pointers follow though.
• Application Number - The application number one gets after completing the online form is important as it is required for editing/completing the form at a later stage.
• Form A and Witnesses - Though, it is not mentioned anywhere in the online application form or the guidelines regarding this, but a duly filled Form A  is required along with other documents. We got to know this at the registrar's office and the form was available nearby there. The form also has a column that requires two witnesses which can be applicants' parents or any known person.
• Request Application - We are also asked to put in an application request for marriage registration. Again, this doesn't have any mention online, but the office bearer asked for the same.
• Gazzetted officer attested Affidavit - An affidavit on stamp paper that with the marriage details - attested by a gazzetted officer - is also required.
• Partially hire a lawyer - For the last three requirements, I would suggest taking help of a lawyer or ask someone who knows about this stuff. They shouldn't be charging more than INR 10-50 for all of these. Lawyers sitting near the registrar office are always aware of all these requirements. If one gets the whole application process done through them, they are definitely going to fleece you.
• Bribe - This wasn't obvious for me as I thought people in India would have improved now, but yes the sub-registrar did ask for bribe. 

Online Verification of the Certificate

Thanks to Pratyush's comment below, there is a web link available for online verification of the certificate:

http://igrsup.gov.in/igrsup/userMarriageRegistrationVerify

As some people had a doubt regarding online verification of the certificate in the comments below, hope this information helps.

How does the certificate look like?

Here is how the Aadhaar based marriage certificate looks like. I have added this as some people were curious about what all is mentioned in the certificate. I have blackened the personal information and added the comments in the image. Hope this helps!

Thanks for reading! Cheers!

Peak - Brain Training Mobile Application

It is indeed a consequence as well as a proof of advancing technology that we now have easy means to not just train ourselves physically, but mentally too. Human brain is a piece of art, its complexity has yet not been understood completely and might not get revealed for another few decades - such a wonder it is.

One of the mobile applications which has gained a lot of popularity since its launch is Peak - Brain Training app. I won't do much talking about it and straight away suggest you to download the app and start using it for a first hand experience. And yes, let some lazy and passive neurons start shooting.

But wait, don't just go empty-handed, use this link to get a one week pro version free subscription. This will obviously give a week's free subscription to me as well - one of the reasons why this blog post exits, but yes it will also let you get a taste of its scope of training your brain to a greater extent.

Once you get your hands on this, try Elevate - Brain Training app as well. This is another wonderful app solving the same purpose and offering even more variety to your daily workouts.
No, no more referrals now. :-D

Happy Training and Happy Gaming!

Cheers!

TransferWise - Best money transfer portal

TransferWise is a recent startup that works on a peer-to-peer based money transfer method. The reason for posting about this is 'mutual benefit'. I personally like it and use it for my international transfers. It made sense to put its unique features which I appreciate here and along with that put my referral code to share the benefits.

• Mid-Market Rate: It offers rate which is generally displayed on Google and other websites and is called mid-market rate. This is the best rate usually available on any website.
  
• Transparent Service Charge: There is no other hidden fee and they charge a fixed amount for the transaction and you can do the maths after the transfer to see that no extra charges deducted unlike banks and other websites.
  
• Easy to use: It is very easy to use offering both the web and mobile app service. Hence, once you get a hang of it, it is only a few clicks away to make the transfer.
  
• Exchange Rate Fluctuation Control: This is more like a safety measure. The service allows you to put an x% cap on the allowable fluctuation in the exchange rate. If the exchange rate falls below the cap you choose, the transfer will not happen and wait for 5 days for the rate to fall, else will cancel the transfer automatically.
  
• Guaranteed Exchange Rate for 24 Hours - Recently, Transferwise started providing a 24 hour guarantee period for the exchange rate subject to reception of money from your bank account or debit/credit card.
  
• Accessible and Available: The transfer service is available in all the major countries and the count is continuously increasing.
  
• Safe: It is safe to use this website and there are enormous other review websites that verify the fact that it is one of the popular choices.
  
• Referral Benefits: The company offers you certain gift amount if 3 people use your referral code to sign up and make a transfer. You choose the currency you want the reward in. This is also the point where I share my referral code and the purpose of this post is therefore met. But why should you do it? Because it gives you first transfer free of service charge which means that you don't pay any extra charge and get a transfer done at the mid market rate.
  
  Use this link to sign up and get free first transfer- https://transferwise.com/u/72c7b6
  
  Happy Transacting!

Applying Online for Australian Visa through ImmiAccount

I am writing this to get and give more information related to the online application of the Australian Visa. I tried searching for the same, but unfortunately couldn't gather much information for the doubts I had.

I had applied for the Student Visa: Postgraduate Research Sector Temporary Visa (Subclass 574) for my PhD studies in Australia from India. But most of the things mentioned here are in general applicable to all the visa classes.

Depending on which country you are applying from, there are different ways for making the application. In India, one can apply directly to the Australian High Commission, through an agent, through VFS or through ImmiAccount. The last two aren't same though are online methods (I wanted to apply through VFS which I thought earlier to be referring to the ImmiAccount and both being the same thing, but that wasn't the case).

Applying through ImmiAccount, as mentioned on the DIBP website, is handled with top priority while paper based application being the last. The other methods of online application are faster too, that is, through a registered agent or through VFS but it is just that they take some consultation charges. VFS is quite cheap in that sense, while agents can ask for any charges they feel like based on the scale of their organisation/company. ImmiAccount doesn't need any such charges as one handles his application by himself without any third party. The charges being mentioned here are not related to the Visa Fees but just the consultancy charges.

For applying through ImmiAccont, all by yourself, you will be going through these steps:

• Find the exact Visa you will have to apply for your purpose of visit. The tool is available on the official website.

• Register yourself on ImmiAccount and start an application.

• Complete the application and submit it with the corresponding Visa Fees.

• You will be assigned a case officer and he will send you the document checklist.

• Upload the required documents in the ImmiAccount portal under correct heads/categories.

• Complete health requirement test (status for that is directly available in your ImmiAccount).

• Once the checklist is complete, you can press the "Complete Request" button and then confirm.

• It will then show the status of your application as "Assessment in Progress" which earlier would have been showing "Request for Information".

• I am currently at the above step, so I will be updating the post as time passes.

• Now you have to wait for the case officer to respond back or the notification of acceptance of visa.

The average processing time for TU 574 subclass visa is 14 working days through ImmiAccount with Assessment Level 1. It has taken longer than that for me, and might take more than month varying from case to case.

The information I have provided, part of it and details of most of it is available on the official website. But there are certain things which are not known prior like:

• The response time for an email is 7 days for onshore and offshore email addresses for querying about visa and it might take longer than that.

• Sending email to the department in India guided me to connect to the onshore case officer.

• Sending emails to the department (SVCSA offshore) returns with an automatic reply with all the necessary details, and also implying that only thing I can do is wait for them to respond instead of spamming them with query emails.

• Australian High Commission in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi cannot help you with information regarding your visa, so no need to waste time going there. I couldn't also get any of my phone calls received there.

• Making phone calls at onshore (Australia) office also didn't help as no one picked the call.

• The average processing time as experienced by one of the consultant companies is 2-4 weeks for student visas.

The above efforts were made after the average processing time had passed. Querying before that might or might not get entertained.

Things might have been simpler if I would have applied via VFS or an agent, but it was worth exploring. However, I was least interested in throwing away money for agents, but VFS is definitely a good option. Their services as experienced while contacting them initially over phone seemed absolutely fine.

I hope I added some useful information on the www, if there is any suggestion, correction or doubt please do comment. I seek more information and personal experience of applicants.

Age of Warring Empires - Free Gold - Tips and Tricks

It has always been a disadvantage to play against a Gold buying player when you are yourself not buying or may be you don't buy as much as they do. Here, I am going to help you with some Gold mining strategies mentioning almost all the sources of
in-game Gold coins. This will also let you know about some of the game events. If you already aware of them, you can skim read them, you might be missing some point.

•  Dragon Invasion: This one is the most important and is the major source of gold coins for me (being a non-gold player).
  
  • This is a daily event, so you always try to get gold coins.
  • First Hit: First hit on dragon gives you 20 GC.
    
    • This is not difficult to get if you don't forget to log in to game when dragon arrives. 
    • Prepare your one single hero with a single troop (or fully loaded). You will have to make his selection and use him in Magic Tower so that the selection is saved and the same selection shows up when you start hitting the dragon. (This part keeps on changing in game, so you will have to figure out how to save a selection). 
    • Now, keep refreshing the event attack page by going to-and-fro on the rank page. 
    • As soon as you see the attack option, click it asap and tick mark the hero (troops for which you had already set in tower) and hit attack. 
    • If dragon HP was full when you made this, Congratulations! You just earned 20 GC.
  • Killing Blow: Final killing blow gets you 30 GC as a reward. You have to be very careful for this.
    
    • Keep an eye on how players are gaining over their percentage damage over the time. 
    • Also, who hits when. This will give you some idea about when to hit for the final chunk of dragon. 
    • The idea is to wait for others to hit and leave small amount of health for you to kill when dragon nears its death. 
    • If you realise that dragon won't die that day, you might not need to waste your troops and time. 
  •  Top Ranks: The top three ranker get a chest which can give 150, 100 and 50 GC respectively. If you are a heavy hitter, you need not worry about the ranks may be. In case you are not, then you might wish for a chance when the heavy hitters are not online which happens usually. Not all the top players will come and hit dragon every time. So you always have a chance. Mostly people are not even aware of these rewards. There is always a chance to get military bonus, with a sure rewards of prestige and copper. So usually there is no harm in trying for dragon.
  • Some more details on Dragon Invasion Event - Age of Warring Empires - Dragon Event

• Treasure Map Event: This is a well-known source of gold coins in game with top 5 rankers getting gold reward. It might seem to be difficult but I have seen people even who are not the top players in game get top ranks in this event.
  
  • Strategy is simple, you need to have City Protection Cards, City Moving Cards and Random Relocation Cards. Over the time, if you plan to play alternate Map event, then you can always have enough of these cards (without spending gold).
  • What you have to do is use Protection whenever you know you are not going to be online for long, i.e. at night when you sleep. For all other occasions you can always escape the attackers by using port cards and building traps.
  • Use City Moving Cards to get to locations where you can find more maps like near IC or next to people near you having good amount of maps.
  • Always keep the pace of gathering maps slow initially and faster as the event nears its end.
  • You have to be vigilant to avoid loss of maps in a single tragedy hour.
   
•  Imperial Overlord Event: This event has only small amount of gold as a reward. But for non-gold players that is also a delight.
  • Use the lowest level of spins if you think you are not going to get too many points from the event for multiple spins. It has a relatively high probability of giving a better reward especially gold coins.
  • Use the second level and higher level as per the number of points you can gain from event. Nice rewards lure you in for a higher level spin, but beware, GMs are not there to give you away stuff so easily. ;)
•  Angelic Welfare Event: This event is sometimes very lovable.
  • Event is clever enough to raise the bar of next donation by seeing the amount of gold coins you already have in hand, i.e., what is displayed at the top right of your screen.
  • It never counts the gold coins which are in your inventory. So, use the inventory gold as per the requirement set by your donation in the event.
  • Try holding on gold coin rewards from the achievements tab in daily tasks, they are also not counted by the event. Claim the reward only during this event, if you don't need gold urgently.
  • Same holds for gold coin rewards from the invitation codes accepted by your friends.
     
•  Always keep some alts and keep some port cards for them. They are usually helpful in gathering points in events like Imperial Overlord or Lily Event.
• Try to use gold for events like Gem Explore event, New Year Event etc. where returns are still better for your invested gold.
• Don't use gold for gold keys in Key Event, and other such events where returns are not good. 

I hope this was useful for some of you. Experts already nail the game, I hope the beginners don't screw it with lesser knowledge of game.
Happy Gaming! Cheers!

How to grind tower better, Read this - Age of Warring Empires - Magic Tower 

Age of Warring Empires - Magic Tower - Tips and Tricks

Magic Tower is one of the major parts of the game and by far the only method (as of July 2014) for training heroes in battle mode.
Ever gave a thought of simplifying the tower for best of your needs?
Here are some tricks for getting things done in an efficient manner with regard to tower, where needs meet their ends quickly:

• Experience Run:
  
  • Each stage in tower is comprised of 10 sub-stages. 
  • Always do the last sub-stage of any stage, for example, 1-10, 15-10 etc.
  • Reason is very simple: Hero experience, which is always maximum at the last sub-stage and will always be higher than the first sub-stage of next stage, that is, Hero experience from 10-10 would be greater than what you would get from 11-1. 
  • For example, even though you are capable of doing 11-1, it is recommended to do 10-10.

• Prestige Run:
  
  • If the only thing you are concerned with is prestige (which is not a usual case, but sometimes you feel the need for it), then you are supposed to do the highest level you are capable of. 
  • Prestige reward rises with every stage and sub-stage.

• Crafting Material:
  
  • This is what helps you in upgrading your weapons, armour and accessories. 
  • Game is designed in such a way that it won't be always easy to get to that particular stage from where you need to extract the required upgrade item. 
  • So, most of the times you will have to buff up with all kinds of military bonuses along with the leadership card and head straight to the minimum sub-stage of required Magic Tower stage, for example, 11-1 for iron ore and 14-1 for ruby etc.
  • If you are capable of doing the last sub-stage out their, then it would be an additional Prestige and Hero Exp, but it can come at the cost of reduced "Stars" after completion. 
  • "Stars" decide the amount of material you will get. Minimum 1-2 Star fetch you single item and the subsequent reward contains a pack of three such items along with other Energy and Copper Coins reward. 
  • Stars depend on the troop loss you had and the number of steps you took to reach the final skull inside the instance. Better you perform or longer you go better the item reward.
• Resources:
  
  • There is a huge amount of resources that you can get from the Magic Tower, which increases with every stage of tower. 
  • This amount due to latest change in Tower is usually high enough that you might even need to get extra food for making troops, that is, the amount of troops lost in a single run of tower can be rebuilt using the reward food.
  • Also, always make use of your Medical Centre for regenerating troops (except catapults), because it is cheaper to revive troops through donation of food than to make them directly from barracks.

• Double-Experience Event:
  
  • This is the high time for training your heroes. 
  • Do not forget to wear a double-experience card so that you get triple experience from the tower. 
  • If you have VIP card, it will further add to the exp. 
  • And remember you have to do only the last sub-stage of your highest tower stages, even if it is needed to buff up completely.
  
  

• Minimum Steps:
  
  • This is the most important step for which the blog post was written. 
  • Each instance of the tower is based on some random instance generation algorithm, but it repeats its instances and one learns them while training on and on in tower. 
  • I have posted some instances here below which take a minimum of 7 steps up to 9 steps to complete. What you all have to do is keep switching between two stages of tower unless you get the desired one as shown below.
  • The clear cut benefit is that, by doing tower this way, you gain Prestige and Crafting Material at a very fast pace, which is not possible during usual random grinding of instances.
    
    
  
  
  

• Version 2.3.22: 
  
  • Now this is where key to this business is. 
  • If you find trouble in recognizing the instance, its better to install an older version of this game, which you can easily find on internet. 
  • In this version, Magic Tower shows where the boss is, so it is easy to identify the instance and reach the boss straight.

Check out this link to see how sometimes its needed to spam tap to get into the right instance which is unique and small.

Perhaps, most of the stuff you people who have been playing for long now already knew about. Hope some part of it helped some class of players, at least the new ones, for whom otherwise it takes long to figure out all these things by themselves.

PS: The Game stuff keeps on changing with time, this post had been written as per then current status of game as in July 2014.

Happy Gaming! Cheers!

How to get free gold in game, Read this - Age of Warring Empires - Free Gold
How to deal with the Dragon Event, Read this - Age of Warring Empires - Dragon Event