ArthurTjandra.Com

Welcome to ArthurTjandra.Com

Dr Arthur Tjandra’s Facebook account was terminated by Facebook in September 2016. This is actually a good thing, as these days, only those who are grandparents and great grandparents still use Facebook. You would be considered a dinosaur, if you still used Facebook today. The tech savvy, cool, hip and young-at-heart either use Friendster, MySpace, ICQ, WeChat or TikTok. As Dr Arthur Tjandra of Elixir de Vie can no longer share his favorite race photos with friends and relatives on Facebook anymore, he has now re-posted old race photos on ArthurTjandra.Com. He will continue to post all his upcoming race photos on ArthurTjandra.Com.

When Dr Arthur Tjandra of Elixir de Vie took part in his first race back in 2004, he promised himself that he would compete in at least 80 races by the time he is 80 years old. As of December 2019, Dr Arthur Tjandra who is coming to 50 years of age, has competed in 56 marathon, half marathon, duathlon, triathlon and 10K races. Let’s wish him good health, so that he can continue to run up to and beyond the age of 80!

Covid-19 border closures, rip-offs and end of marathon race trips

After being ripped off by hotels during Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Dr Arthur Tjandra of Elixir de Vie has decided to stop traveling and put an end to his marathon race trips. The reason is that many businesses are taking the opportunity to use border closure due to Covid-19 as an excuse to seize pre-payment which travelers have made, when they are unable to utilize their bookings due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Expedia.com.sg and Watermark Hotel-The Harbour in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, are two of those unscrupulous businesses which took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to seize fully pre-paid booking from travelers who could not travel because of travel restrictions/border closures imposed by the countries where the hotels are located.

Expedia Watermark Hotel The Harbour ripping off customer

Novotel Brisbane South Bank is another one of them. Fortunately, Dr Arthur Tjandra was able to request for charge back through his credit card issuers, OCBC and UOB Banks.

To aggravate Covid-19 lockdown and border closure situation implemented by many countries, UOB Bank advised Dr Arthur Tjandra that both VISA and MasterCard put in place a new policy which states that in the event of a country’s border closure or lock-down, hotels and airlines are not obliged to provide refunds to customers should customers not able to utilize the service because of the border closure or lock-down!

The following information is provided by VISA and MasterCard:

This is the second time Dr Arthur Tjandra has been cheated by such unscrupulous third party travel booking website. In 2019, Klook.com sold half-priced train tickets on Taiwan High Speed Rail to Dr Arthur Tjandra. But, when he attempted to redeem the tickets at THSR counter, he was informed that those tickets had expired, although he presented the email he received from Klook.com which indicated clearly the date of his travel booking on the train. Dr Arthur Tjandra ended up having to purchase new tickets, while Klook.com refused to provide a refund! Klook.com and Expedia.com are two unscrupulous businesses which have been black-listed by Dr Arthur Tjandra! He should have known better when he made transaction on a dubious website which chose KLOOK, which rhymes with CROOK, as the name of its company!

On top of that, hotel loyalty membership programs, such as Accor Live Limitless (ALL) and Accor Plus, do not extend expiry date of accumulated membership points and privileges at all, even as strict Covid-19 travel restrictions and border closures imposed by many countries around the world, as well as flight cancellations and unavailability of flights, prevent people from traveling.

Accor Plus is an annual-fee-based membership program which charges annual fee, in exchange for 2 complimentary nights at a hotel of your choice and a host of dining benefits. It is a great deal on normal circumstances, considering that its hotel portfolio includes 5-star luxurious hotels, like Sofitel. Two-night stay in such hotel would certainly exceed the cost of the annual fee. However, Dr Arthur Tjandra’s 2 complimentary night stay was forfeited when the hotel he had booked closed down due to Covid-19, and it was impossible for him to travel due to strict Covid-19 travel restrictions and flight cancellations.

Likewise, Accor Live Limitless (ALL), which rewards travelers with points for their loyalty, does not extend expiry date of their points, even as Covid-19 prevents people from traveling. Accumulated points are valid for one year since the last stay at any Accor properties. Since the last time Dr Arthur Tjandra could travel was in March 2020, before countries went into lock-down, all his accumulated points will automatically expire in April 2021, 1 year after the last activity. As he is currently still stuck in Indonesia, while both Indonesia and Singapore are still in lock-down as of 24th Jan 2021, and it does not appear like Covid-19 travel restrictions with quarantine requirement will be lifted any time soon by both Indonesian and Singapore governments, all of Dr Arthur Tjandra’s accumulated 121,022 reward points (which are worth Euro 2,420.44) will be forfeited in April 2021. Besides those points, Dr Arthur Tjandra also has 3 Suite Upgrade awards. On normal circumstances, one night stay in a Suite typically costs Euro 1,000. Hence, Dr Arthur Tjandra stands to lose Euro 5,420 if countries do not re-open borders and lift quarantine requirement in 2021. After all, who is willing to fly into Singapore and be quarantined for 14 days, for instance, and pay for that 14-day quarantine from his own pocket? Likewise, which Indonesian national is willing to travel overseas during a pandemic, and have to serve 5-day quarantine in a government facility upon return back to Indonesia?

When Dr Arthur Tjandra used his Accor Plus 2-night complimentary stay benefit to book for a stay at Sofitel Singapore City Centre, the room rate was SGD 400/night. The entitlement was eventually forfeited by Accor Plus when Sofitel Singapore City Centre was instructed to close down by Singapore government due to Covid-19 pandemic, and Dr Arthur Tjandra was unable to book any stay at any other hotels due to border closures around the world. Combined with the Euro 5,420 worth of points and Suite upgrade stated above, which will be expiring in April 2021, Dr Arthur Tjandra will potentially be “ripped off” Euro 6,000 (or USD 7,300)! This is a very expensive lesson to learn from!

But, it seems that Accor may be the only anomaly in the hotel loyalty membership industry, as Dr Arthur Tjandra is also an elite member of Hilton Honors, Mariott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt and Shangri La. Not only do the other hotel loyalty programs extend the validity or freeze the expiry of loyalty points, they even extend members’ elite status till 31 Dec 2021 with no requirement to make any number of minimum stay, whatsoever!

Covid-19 pandemic has taught Dr Arthur Tjandra four extremely important lessons:

NEVER book flights and hotels months in advance!
DO NOT EVER book flights and hotels during this Covid-19 pandemic until Covid-19 has been completely eradicated from Earth. Even then, new mutants/variants and infectious disease may still pop up from nowhere.
NEVER book through third party travel booking websites! They usually do not care about customers’ rights.
Choose hotel loyalty membership programs carefully. Some hotel chains will jump at any opportunity to seize your loyalty points so that you cannot make use of them to pay for free stays, as a way to cut operational cost!

Although it is safest to only purchase air tickets and book hotels last minute, preferably just hours before departure when it is confirmed that there is no border closure, being a frugal (read: cheap) person, it is also not an option for Dr Arthur Tjandra to book last minute and end up having to pay 2 to 3 times more.

Perhaps all these incidents are wake-up calls for Dr Arthur Tjandra to inject more funds into his foundation, instead of spending them on marathon trips! Besides, with current rise in anti-Chinese sentiment all across Western countries, it may not be safe for an ethnic Chinese person like Dr Arthur Tjandra, to visit Western countries anymore.

Life story through pictures

Life as a medical student: early to mid-1990s

@ University of Wales, College of Medicine:

@ University of Sydney School of Medicine:

Life as an intern (house officer) and medical officer (senior house officer): mid- to late-1990s

@ Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney:

Life as a resident and fellow: 2000 to 2008

Some photos taken with prominent figures while undergoing post-graduate medical and surgical training in Singapore:

With President Wee Kim Wee:

With President S. R. Nathan:

With A/Prof Fong Poh Him

With Dr Pierre Fournier

Once, when We were Young (2000 to early 2010s)

Race Photo Highlights

First Race: Osim Singapore Triathlon 2004:

Singapore Duathlon 2005:

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2005:

Completion of his first full marathon distance race in Dec 2005, approx. 2 years after Dr Arthur Tjandra first picked up running as a hobby in Jan 2004.

Singapore Duathlon 2006:

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2007:

Photo shoot Oct 2008:

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2008:

Gold Coast Marathon 2012:

Gold Coast Marathon 2013:

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2013:

In 2013, Dr Arthur Tjandra took part in his last full marathon race at Singapore Standard Chartered Marathon. 2014 is the year he downgrades from full marathon to half marathon races, as he simply does not have the time and conducive environment to train for full marathon. He is a decent sub-2-hour half-marathoner, but a pathetic 5-hour marathoner.

With such bad timing in his last full marathon race, Dr Arthur Tjandra is determined to focus on and train for half marathon, instead of full marathon races.

Maldives 2014:

Gold Coast Marathon 2015:

Gold Coast Marathon 2017:

Sydney Marathon 2017:

Brisbane Marathon 2018:

Sydney Marathon 2018:

Melbourne Marathon 2018:

Spring Break, April 2019:

Chinese New Year, Jan 2020:

A photograph taken with the first smart phone in his life, a Huawei P30 Lite (Feb 2020):

Photo Albums

Dr Arthur Tjandra’s Race Results

2K Races

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	28 Aug 2004	Osim Mini Triathlon – Run Relay	0:07:58 *PB

5K Races

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	6 Oct 2018	Treadmill Running	0:21:05 *PB
2.	2 Jul 2005	Osim Triathlon – Run Relay	0:24:34

10K Races

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	21 Sep 2019	Batman Run Singapore (8K)	0:45:58
2.	21 Oct 2018	Home Team NS REAL Run	0:53:38.2
3.	23 Sep 2018	Straits Times Run	0:54:48
4.	16 Sep 2018	Sydney Marathon	0:53:12
5.	21 Jan 2018	Run for Hope	0:56:38
6.	26 Nov 2017	Mizuno Wave Run	0:54:27
7.	8 July 2007	Siemens Run KL	0:55:12
9.	20 May 2007	Oakley City Duathlon	0:57:55
10.	26 Feb 2006	Singapore Duathlon	0:47:47 *PB
11.	13 Mar 2005	Singapore Duathlon	0:56:21

Half Marathon

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	13 Oct 2019	Melbourne Marathon	2:08:36
2.	15 Sep 2019	Sydney Marathon	2:03:17
3.	7 Jul 2019	Gold Coast Marathon	2:14:59
4.	14 Apr 2019	Canberra Marathon	2:08:02
5.	14 Oct 2018	Melbourne Marathon	1:59:16
6.	16 Sep 2018	Sydney Marathon	1:57:22
7.	5 Aug 2018	Brisbane Marathon	1:59:20
8.	1 Jul 2018	Gold Coast Marathon	2:01:01
9.	15 Oct 2017	Melbourne Marathon	2:02:12
10.	17 Sep 2017	Sydney Marathon	2:00:21
11.	6 Aug 2017	Brisbane Marathon	2:03:48
12.	2 Jul 2017	Gold Coast Marathon	1:59:48
13.	16 Oct 2016	Melbourne Marathon	2:06:51
14.	18 Sep 2016	Sydney Marathon	2:11:40
15.	3 Jul 2016	Gold Coast Marathon	2:09:14
16.	10 Apr 2016	Vienna Marathon	2:18:44
17.	18 Oct 2015	Melbourne Marathon	2:21:39
18.	5 Jul 2015	Gold Coast Marathon	1:57:45
19.	7 Dec 2014	Singapore Marathon	2:20:48
20.	13 Oct 2013	Melbourne Marathon	2:04:13
21.	22 Sep 2013	Sydney Marathon	2:00:13
22.	1 Sep 2013	Singapore Army Half Marathon	2:18:40
23.	7 Jul 2013	Gold Coast Marathon	1:58:11
24.	9 Sep 2012	Singapore Army Half Marathon	2:06:53
25.	1 Jul 2012	Gold Coast Marathon	1:53:06 *PB
26.	4 Sep 2011	Singapore Army Half Marathon	02:23:24
27.	17 Oct 2010	Long Beach Marathon	02:08:08.93
28.	16 Aug 2009	Singapore Army Half Marathon	02:03:41.50
29.	24 Aug 2008	Singapore Army Half Marathon	01:57:45.45
30.	26 Aug 2007	Singapore Army Half Marathon	01:58:54.54
31.	27 Aug 2006	Singapore Army Half Marathon	01:57:33.65
32.	18 Jun 2006	Phuket Marathon	02:06:02
33.	11 Sep 2005	Singapore Army Half Marathon	02:07:06.82

Duathlon

No.	Date	Event	Distance	Time
1.	15 Mar 2009	Tribob Sprint Duathlon	3K-20K-3K	1:03:42
2.	20 May 2007	Singapore Duathlon	10K-40K-5K	3:20:28
3.	26 Feb 2006	Singapore Duathlon	10K-36K-5K	2:35:17
4.	13 Mar 2005	Singapore Duathlon	10K-40K-5K	3:04:37

Marathon

No.	Date	Event	Time
1.	4 Dec 2013	Singapore Marathon	5:29:02
2.	17 Mar 2013	Seoul Dong-A Marathon	5:10:37
3.	15 Apr 2012	Paris Marathon	5:09:28
4.	26 Feb 2012	Tokyo Marathon	5:05:17
5.	4 Dec 2011	Singapore Marathon	5:26:43
6.	5 Dec 2010	Singapore Marathon	5:38:35
7.	6 Dec 2009	Singapore Marathon	5:09:22
8.	7 Dec 2008	Singapore Marathon	4:44:18 *PB
9.	2 Dec 2007	Singapore Marathon	4:53:25
10.	4 Dec 2005	Singapore Marathon	5:09:30

*PB: Personal Best

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