Category: Overseas Travel

So I flew the red-eye from Singapore Changi to Tokyo Narita. Arrived this morning to cold and rain and darkness at 1600. We’re north now so it gets dark sooner.

It’s chilly, like NYC is right now.

And despite the proximity to the city, it takes over an hour to get into town from Narita. I’ve heard it takes longer by road.

The flight wasn’t without glitches tho.

My “space seat” broke (stuck in the bed position) so I was moved. I didn’t sleep well and the bloke I was moved next to was not happy he now had a neighbor.

Nothing was SQ’s fault, except for the broken space seat. Stewardesses were lovely and hospitable as usual.

In fact, she was the last person I saw before I passed out into fitful slumber on the plane.

Where I dreamt about another…

One of the many joys of Singapore are its Hawker Centres.

Basically big stand alone food courts with many many small stalls of incredible variety. Good safe food because these places are frequently inspected and tourists as well as locals eat here.

Although the most infamous hawker centre is Newton Circus because they stay open late to sate the bar and club crowd, Maxwell’s has been around longer and is preferred by most of the people I know here.

Think about it, two beers and three dishes to fill up two people plus lime juice afterwards for about S$14.00. That’s about US$8.00. Whattabargain!

So after the KL trip, the four of us, Hugo, Sun, myself & Truc come down with food poisoning…According to what I’ve been told, it’s the classic symptoms.

Can’t crap, feeling bloated and kinda flu-ey. The really bad thing is that it attacks your immune system while it’s going through your body.

We figure it’s either the roadfood in a Malaysian hawker stand/rest stop or the oysters at the Pan Pacific seafood buffet.

In either case, I’m feeling like shite. First I’m too hot. Then I’ve got the chills. This is annoying.

If this had to happen, it should happen while I’m at work so I can use some of my many sick hours…

The first thing I noticed out here is that the sun stays up until 1900 or so. Thought it was kinda weird until I was told that Singapore is practically on the equator (knew that, that’s why the crappy weather) and this affects daylight (which I had to think about for a minute before it made sense).

If there are parts way north that have 6 months of darkness and light, geography plays a role, right?

Last night there was a lot of vodka, gin, scotch, beer and air conditioning. Also 2 liters of water.
Despite all that, woke up with a hangover. Along with heat and humidity at 0900! This is supposed to be a local cure. It’s local chicken noodle soup and a bottle of Singapore’s finest.
And yes, that’s a chilled glass with Tiger beer with an ice cube in it. If it weren’t for that ice cube, that would be a glass of warm beer after 5 minutes.

Guess what? It worked! Or was it the beer?

Soooo I landed in Singapore last night and hightailed it to my friend’s place. I wound up being a ringer in a vicious Scrabble game…and cleaning house!

This AM, I woke up (big effort in a 25 degree house) and made it out to Tanjong Pagar, assigned meeting place for those of use driving out to KL and location to a pretty good creperie next door to a Thai deep tissue massage place I went to last visit.

A 4 hour trip to KL via freeway going 180 k/ph. Yes, that fast. And I wasn’t even driving!

Any kind of road trip out of Singapore requires your passport. And you can’t leave without 3/4 of a tank of gas. It’s not the Singapore Gov’t being concerned you’ll be stuck in Malaysia without gas, it’s that you’re cheating them out of revenue!

Gas is hella cheeper outside of SG. Kinda like cheep gas in Daly City…

As many of my friends know (otherwise you probably wouldn’t be reading this), I make regular visits to Asia and try to make the effort to come here at least once a year. There are various reasons why I do this which I will explain if you post a question in the comments section.

My only regret is that this HK visit will be only 10 hours because it’s a stopover on the way to Singapore. Despite it’s problems (corrupt government, indifferent civil servants, Harbourfest, mainland pollution of all kinds), it’s still an exciting, dynamic place to visit. Kick-ass food too!

This is my first time back since last November on the eve of the SARS scare. Even though my flight landed at 0645, the airport seems strangely empty. Maybe because the bulk of the flights land later in the day? Or maybe they feel as I do, that it’s just too early…

However, take the A’Ex to Central and see a busy city going to work. These people dun feel that it’s too early.

“Money never Sleeps!”

Two weeks ago, I was in LA for my college roommate’s wedding. Being the frugal (ha ha) chap I am, I decided to purchase tickets on Southwest, leaving OAK to LAX on Saturday AM and returning Monday AM in time for work. I saw the sunrise both on the drive to OAK and to LAX.

It’s kinda depressing to be up THAT early to see the sun come up on your way to the airport…and on the 405 no less!

I saw the sunrise again this AM, this time flying over China on the great circle route to Hong Kong.

Strangely, I didn’t feel depressed. Instead, a feeling of liberation and optimism flowed over me, as if to say “good things are possible”.

Perhaps it’s freedom that I felt because I was traveling and unshackled from the chains that bind me to work and my desk.

In either case, I didn’t mind that I watched the sunrise today.

Well, not yet. Off to Asia in November. It’s mostly a “visit the friends, escape San Francisco (where you can shit and piss on the street)” trip. Plus a side trip to Bangkok because I’ve never been there before.

So the trip will look like this:

SFO to HKG (for the day)

HKG to SIN

Sometime during this stay, there’s a trip to Bangkok and/or KL involved here

SIN to NRT

Explore the parts of Tokyo and Kyoto I haven’t seen yet

NRT to SFO

Back to purgatory…

But the trip should be hella fun; I’ve got tix in SQ Raffles Class!

Ha Ha Haaaah!