Damn, it's time to leave already....

Well I'm currently sat in the Premier Lounge at Denpasar International airport. I was a bit keen and was actually the first person into the lounge, and even now there's only a handful of other people.

I didn't have breakfast before I left for the airport, but I've now tucked away a plate of fried noodles, an omelette (I felt sorry for the chef!) and a plate of fruit. I've also had the world's strongest coffee and am feeling the full force of the caffeine (just as well as I was up at 5am).

My last day in Bali was pretty eventful and included amongst other things a massage, a foot massage and a transvestite show. The transvestite show was funny and a little bit scary - especially when I left the bar and the campest man ever asked me where I was going! Fortunately a group of rather attractive (female) Scandinavians (I think) had just left, so I just said I was going after them.

Half a Pedicure - for Free (sort of)

So there I was minding my own business on Legian beach on my first full day in Bali. Anyway I get the usual people pestering me asking whether I want massages etc. etc. However, one of the women offered to cut one of my toe nails for free. I was about to wave her away when the next thing I know she's got her clippers out and is attacking my big toe nail. Before I knew it she'd cut all the nails on my right foot, cleaned under them and put some kind of moisturiser on them. I had been protesting that I had no money on me (which was true), but she was having none of it. She said that it was so quiet and if I liked what she'd done then I would come back and she could finish the job and then I could pay her.

Anyway I'm not really the pedicure type, so I haven't been back. I wasn't totally heartless as I did manage to find about IDR20,000 to 'pay' her.

Bacon & Eggs

Yup, that was the first meal I had in Bali - Bacon and Eggs!

After a decent nights sleep I headed out for breakfast. Most of the restaurants were pretty dead even though it wasn't particularly early. Anyway I went to a place called 'Wayan and Friends' mainly because it wasn't completely deserted. I tried to order nasi goreng (that traditional breakfast dish!), but unfortunately the rice wasn't ready yet. So bacon and eggs it was, washed down with a tasty papaya juice.

I spent the rest of the morning wandering around Seminyak and I've just had lunch. This time I was successful in my nasi goreng search!

It's hot hot hot, so this afternoon will be spent by the hotel pool or on Legian beach.

Gridlock

Curses - and specifically the curse of the M25! My flight to Singapore was over an hour late taking off. We left the gate not too far off the scheduled time and then we just seemed to sit on the tarmac not going anywhere - precisely the same feeling as being stuck in a traffic jam on the M25.

Unfortunately we didn't make the time up in the air, so an hour delay leaving translated into an hour delay arriving. The flight seemed to go by quite quickly and my selection of the Indian vegetarian special meal was a winner. I was tucking in whilst everybody else around me still had some time to wait until the normal service got to them. The food was good aswell especially breakfast.

I 'entered' Singapore to get the passport stamp and spent all of 5 minutes landside before clearing immigration and getting back airside.

The Airbus A380 is parked at a gate waiting for it's evening trip to Sydney - it really is pretty ugly. This didn't stop me taking a few snaps along with hordes of other people.

Time for a shower and a quick bite to eat before I fly on to Bali.

14 days.....

Two weeks today I should be sat in my seat on a 747 heading for Singapore and ultimately Bali. At the moment I'm feeling majorly stressed due to things at work and the unexplainable stomach pains I've been experiencing! Fingers crossed that everything gets sorted out in the next couple of weeks.

I feel like I need to get away but I'm not sure whether Bali is the place I should be going to. Anyway this trip is going to be all about relaxation..........I hope.

Too Dumb to Travel?

I'm in the 'City of Brotherly Love' aka Philadelphia.

On my way over it did cross my mind that some people are just too stupid and should be kept at home. The American guy next to me on the flight 'got confused' when they were handing out the customs and immigrations forms! How confusing is it when a flight attendant walks down the aisle asking whether you'd like an immigration and/or customs form? It really blew my mind.

Then when we arrived at Philadelphia the woman a couple of people ahead of me in the queue for immigration could speak no English at all and hadn't filled out any of the necessary forms. The scary, shaved headed immigration officer wasn't particularly sympathetic to her plight. It took bloody ages to sort everything out. I was not impressed, but I suppose it's a bit harsh to label someone stupid for not being able to speak English. However, she could've been a little bit prepared.

Home Comforts

So last weekend I was in Berlin for Spike's stag weekend -- a good weekend, but it didn't seem like a stag weekend. I've decided that I will definitely be heading back to Berlin to do some of the 'touristy' stuff that we weren't able to do. A really interesting city with varied architecture and a fascinating history.

This weekend I'm not going to be straying too far from home -- I'm counting on catching up on some of the sleep which I missed out on when I was living it up in the German capital!

Stirling Effort....

I'm off to Scotland on Sunday to visit my sister and and her ever expanding family. I'm looking forward to seeing my new nephew, but I think the real excitement is centred around my niece, Harriet. She seems to be turning in to a real 'character' and I'm looking forward to the ever more 'interactive version'! I've been on a few 'amazing' trips this year, but I feel equally excited about this one -- it's not just about the places you go to, but also the people you see there......

I've got back to back trips with Spike's stag weekend in Berlin following hot on the heels of my trip 'north of the border'. At the moment I feel totally disorganised and I have a nagging feeling that I'm bound to forget to pack something. Surely the trigger to make a list or two!

Shanghai Food Files

This post can be summarised as 'what I ate when I went to Singapore and Shanghai'! Before I left for China I was a bit worried about the whole food 'thing'. I wasn't concerned about the actual food, but more about restaurant etiquette, understanding menus and being understood myself. Thankfully my concerns were overblown, and I didn't have any significant problems and I didn't go hungry!

Saturday
My brief pit stop in Singapore enabled me to get to Lau Pa Sat, gobble down some satays and then return to the airport. I think I had the satays from Satay Power and I thought they were better than the ones I had when I was in town at the start of May.

Sunday
I had breakfast on the flight up from Singapore. The first food I actually ate in Shanghai was some sweet/spicy coated peanuts that I had with my complementary drink as I waited for my hotel room to be ready. The peanuts were very moreish and I polished them off in no time.

For lunch I had fried dumplings (sheng jian bao) from Yang's Fry Dumplings on Wujiang Road. Shanghai has a few so called 'food streets' and this is one of them. The dumplings are shallow fried in a big pan with a wooden lid. The bottom of the dumpling is nice and crispy and the top is similar to how it would be if it was steamed. The most common filling is pork, garlic and ginger, which I assume was in the ones I ate. They were very good.

I had an early dinner at the Megabite food court in Raffles City. I ate what I think was a spicy seafood hotpot, that came with something similar to miso soup and rice. The hotpot was nice and spicy and the there were loads of prawns, scallops etc. which is never a bad thing.

Monday
I could've gone mad at the hotel buffet breakfast, but by and large all I ate was fruit, yoghurt and toast/danish pastries/croissants.

I had lunch at Din Tai Fung in the Super Brand Mall. Din Tai Fung is a reasonable sized Taiwanese restaurant chain which specialises in fairly simple Chinese food and in particular they are renowned for their xiao long bao -- steamed dumpling filled with pork, or a mixture of pork and crab meat. I ordered the the pork and crab xiao long bao and they were absolutely delicious. To 'round out' the meal I had a spicy cucumber salad and hot and sour soup.

For dinner I chose to go to an Uighur restaurant. Uighur cooking is basically the food of Chinese Muslims from the far Northwest of the country and it bears some similarities to Turkish and Middle Eastern food, especially since the staple meat is lamb or mutton. I went to the Pamir Restaurant and had a confusing time trying to understand the translated menu. All I knew was that I didn't really want to try 'Mutton Interiors'! More by luck than judgement what I did order was very tasty. I had mutton fried with nan bread, stir fried cabbage and some noodles. It was a very non-Chinese Chinese meal all washed down with Xinjiang Beer and accompanied by waiters who would burst into song every now and again!

Tuesday
I had my regular buffet breakfast and for lunch it was time for more xiao long bao. This time from the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant at Yu Yuan Gardens. I went for the take out option, and after a 20 minute wait in the queue I was rewarded with 16 steaming dumpling filled with pork and crab meat. Add to this a liberal dash of soy sauce and vinegar and it made for a very filling and cheap lunch (RMB10 which is about 65p).

That night I had dinner at Shanghai Uncle. Again this is a small chain with a few other restaurants around town and is owned by a Shanghai American who is the son of a New York Times food critic. The guidebooks all say this is the place to go for good contemporary Shaghainese food. I ordered the traditional Shanghainese dish of cold, smoked fish was really good and very different to smoked fish in the U.K. It had a gingery sweet flavour but you had to be a bit cautious about the fish bones. After the fish came Perch with red and green peppers, stir fried 'Petals' with vegetables and chicken soup. I was stuffed. This was a reasonably upmarket restaurant and I ate a lot of good food, but my bill came to less than £11.

Wednesday
Breakfast as above.

Today I went to a vegetarian restaurant for lunch (New Age Veggie restaurant in the Super Brand Mall) . In China vegetarian food can also be described as 'mock-meat' food - the chefs take tofu and make it taste and even resemble meat or fish. I ordered a fish hotpot set meal. The hotpot came filled with vegetables and 'fake fish' as well as loads of dried chillies! The rest of the set meal was made up of a cold salad to start, soup, rice and watermelon as a palate cleanser at the end.

In the evening I went to an acrobatic show and then had dinner afterwards at Bi Feng Tang, a very busy place serving all kinds of Chinese food. I had a basic but tasty meal of fried noodles and a plate of scallops.

Thursday
Today it was a celebratory lunch as I'd got a text message earlier telling me that my nephew had been born! I had been sheltering from the rain in the Super Brand Mall and decided to give Blue Frog a go. There are 4 or 5 Blue Frog bars around Shanghai and I figured that I should try one before I left. I think the one in the Super Brand Mall is pretty new and at lunchtime it was practically deserted. I had a nice cold pint of Tiger beer (they didn't serve Tsing Tao) and a big bowl of Fried noodles with pork. An ideal combination!

I had an early dinner as I was flying back to Singapore later in the evening. For my final meal in Shanghai I chose Din Tai Fung, but this time the one at Xintiandi. I had xiao long bao, which were again exquisite, fried spinach and garlic and a pot of oolong tea. This 'branch' was reasonably busy for the time of day (5.30pm ish) and there were quite a few tables with solo diners.

At the airport I camped out at the Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge. Here I had the most disgusting, unintentionally cold dim sum thing. Yuck. So yuck I had to wash the taste out of my mouth with several cans of Tsing Tao!

Friday
Breakfast was courtesy of Singapore Airlines. I wasn't particularly hungry when they came round at about 4am and I only ate about half of the chicken and fried rice.

I went for a swim in the morning and then had an early lunch of fried carrot cake followed by some papaya at the Wisma Atria food court. I kept my strength up during the course of the day with a couple of trips to Old Chang Kee for a curry puff and squid stick. I also managed to find some room for some 'octopus balls' and a mango and honeydew melon juice from the Takashimaya food court.

I had a couple of late afternoon beers from Brewerkz and then later had an Indian meal from the Saffron Bistro. By this time I was starting to feel incredibly tired and although the meal I had was really good I don't think I fully appreciated it as I just wanted to get back to the hotel and get some sleep.

Saturday
Today's excellent breakfast buffet was at the Pan Pacific hotel. Again I showed a degree of restraint, but any gastronomic purists might have blanched at me consuming a couple of yoghurts, a big plate of fresh fruit and several pastries and egg tarts! I had a decent walk afterwards to use up some of the calories.

The rest of Saturday's food was served on small trays at 36,000ft on my way back to London....

Travel Day

After my relatively early night I woke feeling refreshed and ready to sit in a plane for 13hours! I had breakfast (fresh fruit and danish pastries) and then went out for a bit of a walk to 'stretch my legs'.

I got back to the hotel, showered for the second time and was on my way to the airport by 10.15am. Once at Changi I went straight to the crappy SATS 'Premium Lounge' and relaxed a bit before making my way to the gate for the flight home.

The flight was reasonably full in Economy, but I had snagged an exit row seat so I was comfortable enough. I was sat next to an Australian who went through quite a bit of nicotine gum (and red wine) during the flight. He was coming back to the U.K. to visit his mother and wasn't looking forward to it, I on the other hand wasn't looking forward to coming home as it meant my trip was over.

We landed 30mins ahead of schedule and a combination of IRIS and priority tagged luggage meant that I was out of the airport by 7pm. All that I needed to do was battle my way through the throng of Indians in the arrival hall and find where Cliff had left my car.

A bit more 'civilised'?

So my flight to Singapore landed at about 5.20am and I was all checked-in and in my room at the Pan Pacific by 6.00am! Now that is not bad going, and I wasn't rushing at all. At the hotel I unpacked, showered, watched a bit of TV and left to go swimming at 7.30am. By the time I got to the Delta Swimming Complex the clouds were starting to look a bit threatening - it seems the rain had followed me South. It started to rain quite heavily towards the end of my swim, and just as I was on my way to get changed afterwards, the lifeguards blew their whistles and got everybody out of the pool because of the thunder and lightening.

The rain was lashing down and I had visions of another frustrating day spent within the confines of shopping malls. I got the MRT to Orchard and checked-in at the Paragon for my flight back to Heathrow. I then got a bite to eat at the Wisma Atria food court before going back to my hotel to get rid of my swimming stuff. By the time I got to the hotel the weather had transformed completely, the rain had stopped completely and it was now a nice sunny day.

From the hotel I walked down Orchard Road and managed to resist buying anything in the 'Great Singapore Sale'. This coupled with the imminent GST rise at the start of July had got the 'locals' in to a shopping frenzy (according to The Straits Times).

During the day I had a few pit stops for food at Old Chang Kee (a curry puff and squid stick) and the Takashimaya food court (octopus balls). I also spent some time at a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf where I tried to read some of my book. I was mostly unsuccessful as I kept nodding off and also was pre-occupied trying to eavesdrop on a table full of 'expat matriarchs' who had a tenuous grip on reality.

From the Takashimaya Shopping Centre I had a nice hot and sweaty walk to Brewerkz , but was able to cool down with a couple of pre-6pm happy hour beers. I then walked back to my hotel and got ready for dinner. I had decided in Shanghai that after overdosing on Chinese food I would treat myself to a tasty curry in Singapore, so I headed out to the Saffron Bistro for just that. Unfortunately I was starting to flag a bit and although my meal was really good, I don't think I appreciated it fully because I was so tired.

Things must've been bad as there were no post dinner drinks and instead I walked straight back to the hotel and went to bed!

And then it rained....

So what did I do on my last in Shanghai? Well to be honest not a lot. I packed and checked out of my hotel and had my bags stored. Outside it was pouring it down with rain, and this is the main reason I didn't get up to much.

The first thing I decided I needed to do was check what time the last MagLev train left for the airport. The Lonely Planet guide said one time and the Time Out guide said another and the leaflet I'd got at the airport just said a load of stuff in Chinese. I got the Metro to Longyang Road and was able to verify, in person, at the MagLev terminal that the last MagLev train left at 9.00pm (the Time Out guide had the right answer). Because of the rain I felt that a combination of Metro and MagLev would be the best bet in getting to the airport rather than having to find a cab and then potentially getting snarled up in traffic.

I had hoped the rain would've eased of during my trip out to Longyang Road, however it didn't really show any sign of letting up. I had practically an entire day to fill and the normal option of just wandering the streets would've meant getting very wet. The only thing for it was to 'hang out in a shopping mall', so it was back to the Super Brand Mall! My first stop at SBM was Starbucks and this is where I when I got the text message saying the my nephew Oliver had been born! I celebrated with a Grande Triple Non-Fat Mocha!

After spending about an hour in Starbucks I ventured forth in to the SBM proper and discovered a whole new bit! I had a browse in a few shops and bought a couple of bargain-ous T-shirts from Uniqlo. By now it was just about time for lunch, which I had in the Blue Frog bar. The food was pretty good and the ice cold Tiger beer was a more appropriate way to toast the birth of Oliver.

From my window seat in the Blue Frog I could see that it was still bastard raining so after lunch I walked round the Lotus supermarket in the basement of SBM. Here I bought random Chinese sweets for people back at work and narrowly avoided injury when a load of shelves with cans of drink on them toppled over. The collapsing shelves made a hell of a noise and afterwards there were piles of food and drink everywhere. Fortunately I think everybody managed to get out of the way otherwise it could've been quite nasty.

By now it was about 4pm and the rain had finally eased a bit, although it hadn't stopped completely. I took the Metro to People's Square and had a drink in the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I noticed that of all the people who were 'eating/drinking in' the non-Chinese all had plastic or paper cups whilst the Chinese drank out of china or glass -- odd.

I faffed around People's Square for a bit and then walked to Xintiandi where I had an early dinner at the branch of Din Tai Fung there. This would be last experience of xiao long bao on this trip!

All that was really left for me to do was to get back to my hotel pick up my bags and make my way to the airport. I was very lucky and seemed to time my journey perfectly. The Metro wasn't too busy and when I got to the MagLev station I only had to wait a few minutes before the train left for the airport. The MagLev is very impressive but on the two times I used it it never got anywhere close to the 430kph that is quoted in the guidebooks. The top speed I experienced was a touch over 300kph which is still plenty fast enough and gets you to the airport in less than 10 minutes.

At the airport I had to wait a bit for check-in to open, in the mean time I was able to 'sort my self out' i.e. freshen up and change clothes in readiness for the flight back to Singapore. Once I checked-in I went straight to the Silver Kris Lounge where I ate some dodgy dim sum, drank a few cans of Tsing Tao and was frustrated by the temperamental internet connection.

Once on-board the plane we seemed to taxi for ages before taking off. The captain had warned us that we would experience quite a lot of turbulence en route and he wasn't wrong. It was a very bumpy flight. I tried to sleep but wasn't particularly successful. The flight time was 5 1/2 hours but when you take into account the time after take-off and before landing, and the fact they serve breakfast an hour and half before arrival, there really isn't much time to get any 'proper rest'. So I arrived in Singapore fairly bleary eyed.

Acro-batty!

After a decent nights sleep, undisturbed by any nightmares about being trapped in a fire escape, I was once again ready to be unleashed on the streets of Shanghai. Unfortunately the weather was a bit crappy with a bit of drizzle in the air. That scuppered my plan to go on the river cruise, so instead I thought I'd go to an Acrobatic show in the evening (not an obvious trade off). To get tickets for the show I had to go to Shanghai Centre, and on the way I dropped into the Shanghai Library to online check-in for my flight back to Singapore. To use the internet I had to register and give my passport details. Also when I was online certain sites were blocked, the most frustrating being the BBC Sport web page.

I walked from the Library to the Shanghai Centre and bought tickets for that evening's show. I then again made use of the excellent toilet facilities at the Portman Ritz Carlton (which is in the same complex). I was at a bit of loose end now so I decided to catch the Metro over to Pudong and have a proper look around the Super Brand Mall and grab some lunch in one of the restaurants there. It was a toss up between a restaurant serving Hunan cuisine or a vegetarian place. In a surprise decision I actually went for the vegetarian option, mainly because they had some good looking set meals and also I'd read about the ingenuity of Chinese chefs in making things look and taste like meat when they are not.

After lunch I visited the Chinese Sex History museum which was small but very interesting and then took The Bund 'Sightseeing Tunnel' under the Huangpu. The tunnel was just plain odd. You sit in a small carriage and travel through the tunnel accompanied by various flashing lights and an odd voice over. There is no 'sightseeing' as such but it's naffness makes it a tourist destination.

After the excitement of the 'Sightseeing Tunnel' I made my way leisurely back to the hotel to get changed for the evening. The acrobatic show started at 7.30pm and I planned to have a couple of beers beforehand in the Long Bar which was also part of the Shanghai Centre.

I drank my 2-for-1 happy hour beers in record time and took my seat for the show. It was entertainment enough watching the various tour guides speaking a multitude of languages trying to organise their tour groups. At one point the American girl sat next to me, who was similarly amused by the tour group chaos, asked if "I understood English", to which I was able to reply "but I am English!".

The show itself was excellent and can be described in one word. Insane. I just wish the girl next to me hadn't kept saying "don't do it, don't do it, don't do it". It would've been a pretty dull show if the performers had taken her advice.

After the show I had dinner at Bi Feng Tang (Noodles and Scallops) and then walked to a Line 1 Metro station and caught the train back to my hotel.

Trapped!

So what exciting things did I get up to on the 3rd day of my Shanghai adventure?

First stop after breakfast was the 'Old Town' and a trip to see the Yu Yuan Gardens and Bazaar. I took the Metro to as close as I could get to the 'Old Town' and then walked. On my way I witnessed what I assume was a fire drill at one of the big shopping malls. There were firemen, the police and paramedic looking type people doing stuff whilst lots of bored shop staff looked on from the orderly rows they had been grouped in to (I think it was sorted by floor). All exciting stuff.

After a short walk through the 'Old Town', with a slight detour round a construction site which wasn't on my map, I made it to tourist tat central aka Yu Yuan Bazaar. What a real anti-climax. The buildings looked good but the shops etc. looked pretty crappy to my eyes. The Mid-Lake Pavilion was pretty cool, especially with the zig zag walkways to get to it (a feng shui feature), but this was heaving with tourists. The gardens themselves were small and not that special. I guess it didn't help that the Japanese destroyed them during WWII and they've been 'rebuilt'. The highlight of the Yu Yuan experience was the xiao long bao from the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant. I went for the take-away option and the 20minute queue was worth it!

After the tourist tat of Yu Yuan I went for some real culture in the afternoon -- the Shanghai Museum. Here I saw some fairly interesting exhibitions on such things as bronze ware, jade, calligraphy porcelain etc.

After the museum I walked the short distance from People's Square to The Bund. I was contemplating going on a river cruise but decided against it as the weather wasn't the best. Instead I went to my second museum of the day -- The Bund museum. This is in the old Meteorological tower and is really a bar/cafe with some interesting old pictures on the wall. On my way back to my hotel I stopped off in the No.1 Food Store and the No.1 Department Store on East Nanjing Road. The food store sold lots of weird and wonderful stuff and the department store seemed to be a throw back the the 70s and 80s with lots of dubious quality Chinese merchandise.

I made the trek over to Pudong for dinner, mainly because I thought I'd have a drink afterwards at Cloud 9 -- the bar on the 87th floor of the Grand Hyatt in Jinmao Tower. Unfortunately it had started to rain and the prospect of a drink surrounded by clouds didn't really appeal. Instead I had to make to do with a really good meal from a Shanghainese restaurant called Shanghai Uncle.

The drama for the day came when I went to leave the shopping centre that the restaurant was in. I thought the best way would be to retrace my steps and leave via the way I came in. This was through the basement car park and into a pedestrian subway. Unfortunately the exit to the pedestrian subway was locked. Also the door that I had gone through had closed behind me and locked. No bother I thought, I'll just climb up the stairs and the doors are bound to be open on the next floor. They weren't, and I now appeared to be trapped in the fire escape. I tried several more floors and all the doors would open slightly but not all the way. At this point I had visions of spending the night sleeping on a stairwell! After a moment of mild panic wondering what to do, I resorted to brute force, and bust my way through one of the doors. The doors weren't locked but they had some catch which meant you could get into the fire escape through them, but not go the other way. I'm not sure where you were supposed to escape to if there was actually a fire!

After all that excitement it was time to get back to the hotel and be grateful for spending the night in a bed and not in a fire escape.

The Only Way is Up?

So after an extremely welcome and necessary nights sleep I dragged my self out of bed and sampled the Regal Hotel's breakfast buffet. I was pretty restrained and just ate a mountain of fruit combined with a few croissants and Danish pastries!

The first stop on today's tourist trek was the Longhua Pagoda, which I realised I could walk to from my hotel and would therefore enable me to burn off some of the breakfast calories. Also I thought it would be a good idea to see a bit of cliched China. To be honest the Pagoda was unimpressive but the tourist trap market nearby lived up to expectations in terms of the tat that was on sale.

After the Pagoda I once again went the wrong way on the Metro (too many names beginning with X), but sorted my self out and made it to Pudong eventually. Pudong is the space age part of Shanghai with lots of new buildings and new ones going up all the time. It's also the home of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower which has got to be Shanghai's most photographed landmark. Pudong itself, as you might expect, has a very different feel to the older parts of Shanghai. For a start the streets are wider and quieter.

long After taking a few snaps of the some of the skyscrapers, including the current tallest one (Jinmao Tower) and the future tallest one right next door, I headed to the Super Brand Mall. This is, in a nutshell, an very big shopping mall! It's also where I had lunch and experienced xiao long bao (steamed dumplings) for the first time. More about that when I post about my Shanghai food experiences in detail

After lunch I crossed back over(or rather under) the Huangpu River and went to Xintiandi. This is an area of old houses which have been preserved and gentrified and are now the location for a few very upmarket restaurants and shops. Nearby was the Dongtai Lu antiques market (how do you know the stuff for sale is antique?) and Fuxing Park. The antiques market seemed to be be the kind of place that would appeal to gullible foreign tourists wanting to own a bit of China. The park was more interesting especially the kite flyers. I was just amazed at how high the kites got.

I caught the Metro back to my hotel in the peak rush hour time, this would not be a mistake I would repeat! The people were jammed in the carriages like sardines. You didn't have to worry about holding on to anything because you were wedged in so tightly. The worst bit was trying to get out the train when it reached my stop. It really was a case of everyman for himself as I barged my way out of the carriage.

I had a quick turnaround at the hotel and was soon on the Metro again (this time much less busy) as I went to the French Concession for dinner. I'd narrowed down my 'dining options' to two restaurants. The safe option was an Indian restaurant where I figured they would definitely have an English menu. The riskier option was a restaurant serving Uighur food. This is the cuisine of China's Muslim Uighur minority who live in the northwest Taklamakan desert. I scoped out the Uighur restaurant and saw that there were in fact some Europeans in there so I figured I'd be OK. When I was in the restaurant I realised that they spoke Mandarin, so maybe things wouldn't be as straightforward as I'd anticipated! Fortunately there were English translations in the menu, although some of them were a bit obscure. It was a bit pot luck what I order, but the food was really good - all washed down with some Muslim beer!

I had a bit of a post meal stroll to People's Square and then got the Metro back to the hotel.

Sunday in Shanghai

Well I'm now back home, but I didn't post to my blog when I was in China. There were a couple of reasons for this, firstly it wasn't particularly easy getting on line in Shanghai, and secondly (and this is probably the main reason), I didn't want to spend time in front of a computer when I only had a limited time away.

Anyway I can now post at my leisure!

The flight to Shanghai from Singapore was fine, but was just too short to really get any proper sleep. I thought I'd filled in the various forms (landing card, customs form and health declaration) before the flight, but I'd forgotten to put my name on the health declaration form. As a result I was a bit alarmed when someone came running after me shouting "Sir, Sir!". Fortunately this omission didn't result in me getting booted out the country, and once I'd scrawled my name on the form I was allowed to go on my way.

I was through immigration, picked up my bag and then through customs by 6.45am. Unfortunately the airport was completely dead and most of the shops weren't yet open. I was gagging for a drink of water but didn't have any change for the vending machines which were everywhere, so I went on a bit of a trek and eventually found a shop that was actually open and also sold water.

My original plan was to get a hotel shuttle bus to where I was staying, but at the bus stop there was no sign of any buses and what looked like the information counter or ticket office wasn't open. I wasn't really able to ask anybody else what was going on! So I swiftly changed my plan and decided that I'd get the MagLev train to the terminus at Longyang and then catch the Metro to my hotel at Shanghai Stadium. This proved to be pretty straight forward but did involve lugging my bags a fair distance as I transferred from the MagLev to the Metro and then when I changed Metro lines. I also got to experience how busy the Metro is -- thankfully I wasn't trying to make this journey during the week day rush hour!

I was at my hotel before 9am, but I had to wait an hour for my room to be ready. Once in my room, I showered and then set off to explore the city.

My hotel was in the South of Shanghai so I decided that I'd walk up Hengshan Road and through the tree lined streets of the French Concession, with the vague notion of getting to the Ritz-Carlton to have Sunday brunch with its free flow of champagne! I did get to the Ritz-Carlton in time for brunch, but the only problem was that I wasn't feeling particularly hungry and also the thought of having a few glasses of champagne in my jet-lagged, weary condition wasn't particularly appealing. So all I ended up doing at the Ritz-Carlton was to make use of their excellent toilet facilities!

The Ritz-Carlton is in the Shanghai Centre on West Nanjing Road, so from here it was reasonably straightforward to walk to People's Square. There was also the unexpected bonus of taking a very slight detour down one of Shanghai's food streets, in this case Wujiang Road. So instead of having brunch at a 5 star hotel, I had fried dumplings from Yang's Fried Dumplings which cost about 30p and were mighty fine. Dumplings are big business in Shanghai, except they're more like Chinese ravioli.

After my first dumpling experience I carried on my meandering walk to People's Square (which used to be the racecourse in the Concession era). Once at People's Square I got my bearings and realised that I could tick off two items from my 'to do list' -- the Urban Planning Exhibition and the Shanghai Museum. I figured that the Shanghai Museum could wait until later in the trip and that being as I was 'new in town' the Urban Planning Exhibition would be more useful and interesting. I wasn't disappointed. The 'Exhibition' itself is a couple of very impressive scale models of Shanghai as it will look in 2010 (when the city hosts the World Expo). The term 'model' definitely does the exhibits a disservice, you are in fact presented with the entire city in miniaturised form.

After the Urban Planning Exhibition I had a very early dinner at the Raffles City food court. I was starting to feel the affects of having little sleep in the previous couple of days and the change in time zone. The food court option was a hassle free way of getting some decent food without having to pick a specific restaurant.

Once fed I did a couple of the Lonely Planet guide walking tours, one along The Bund and another entitled 'beyond The Bund' which basically meant some of the streets parallel to the Bund. I kind of got a bit lost getting to the starting point of the first walk and spent a bit longer walking around the streets North of Suzhou Creek, but hey it all adds to the experience. The Bund itself is impressive architecturally, but I think it's the history and stories associated with the various buildings which are just as interesting.

Another thing to add was that The Bund was heaving. It was just so busy, mainly with tourists from other parts of China. I was really starting to feel the pace at this point so walked towards the Metro station at People's Square via East Nanjing Road. East Nanjing Road used to be Shanghai's equivalent of Oxford Street, however with all the new shopping malls that have been built in the last decade most of the best shops are now elsewhere. However, it was still packed with hordes of people and I was getting annoyed with being hassled about bars, girls, drugs, fake watches and copied handbags.

I made it to the Metro station in one piece but my brain was a bit frazzled so I ended up getting on a train going in the wrong direction, I realised my mistake at the next station and switched to the right train. It wouldn't be long now until I got back to the hotel and got some much needed sleep.

In Transit

So I fannied around longer at Changi than I had planned -- a combination of browsing the internet and trying to find the left luggage place. After a few bouts of paranoia concerned with remembering my passport and boarding pass, I did get rid of my bags and officially enter Singapore.

The cab ride downtown was snail like as were were caught up in the Friday night rush hour traffic. Eventually I made it to the Merchant Court Hotel and then it was a short walk from there to Brewerkz. I had a couple of swift pints as I beat the 8pm happy hour deadline and then set off for Lau Pa Sat.

The satays this time were much better than the ones when I was here at the start of May. I gobbled down my 20 sticks in no time. I'd also ordered a plate of 'mixed vegetables' -- got to have my '5 a day' -- but decided against the the normal fried rice option. With dinner over it was time to get back to the airport which is where I'm writing this from.

Singapore really is the ideal stopover location, even if it's a bit out of the way to Shanghai (but think of the extra KrisFlyer miles)!

Time for a shower and then it's the relatively short (5 1/2 hour) flight to Shanghai.

Mashed Banana

The first part of my indirect journey to Shanghai is over. I'm now in Changi airport having just got off my flight form Heathrow. I was a bit disorientated when we disembarked as we were at a gate which I don't think I'd ever used before. Also it was unusual that I wasn't following the 'Arrivals' signs like I would normally do. Anyhow my confusion is now over and all that I need to do is dump my carry-on bags a the left luggage counter, get some cash and then head in to the City for a swift drink at Brewerkz (happy hour until 8pm!) and then a few satays at Lau Pa Sat.

The flight was pretty good. My seat was fine even with the door taking up a fair chunk of room -- it was definitely better than 99% of the Economy Class seats! The food was light years ahead of the cheap slop I had on BA a fortnight a go. I had a tasty Fish Vindaloo for 'supper' and then the Prawn Noodles 'before touchdown'. But the real highlight of the meal was the fact there was a full set of metal cutlery! I can't remember the last time I didn't have to struggle with a flimsy plastic knife on a plane.

One thing that did irritate me was that in trying to cram people's bags in to the overhead lockers, the two bananas that I packed for a mid-flight snack got totally battered. Fortunately they were in a separate plastic bag so the rest of my stuff didn't get smothered in mashed banana!

Time to leave Changi.......

Clubhouse Cool

Well my adventure to Shanghai is underway! I'm really excited (as always when it comes to travel), but I'm also bricking it. China on my own is pretty scary!

But nevermind, it's a place I've wanted to go to for a long time so it's not as though anyone is forcing me to go there.

My trip is off to a mixed start. I managed to get an exit row seat, but unfortunately it's by the window so a lot of the legroom is taken up by the door. I could change it at the airport, but only for a regular aisle seat. I thought 'sod it' I'll give it a go! Thankfully for my flight from Singapore to Shanghai I'll be sat (or hopefully sleeping) in a nice exit row aisle seat.

After a bite to eat in Pret a Manger and cheeky beer with Cliff, I cleared security pretty quickly. I got water from Boots and then said 'goodbye' to the riff raff and headed straight for the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse lounge. I've now had a couple of glasses of Champagne and some sushi and I'm feeling pretty mellow as I get ready for 12+ hours sat in an aluminium tube at 36,000 feet.

The Clubhouse is much busier than the last time I visited it. It is later, but I think the main reason is that the flight to Mumbai has been delayed for 'technical reasons'.

Time to grab a load of water and make the trek to the gate........

Oh and before I forget, I'm also pretty excited that I could become an Uncle for the second time when I'm away!

Take me out to the ballgame......

So the real purpose of my trip Stateside was not to see how many different types of public transportation I could take, nor was it to clog up my arteries by consuming a mountain of fast food. No, it was to watch a couple of games of baseball.

My first game was at the magnificent Oriole Park at Camden Yards. This has got to be one of the best sports venues in the whole world -- an ultra modern arena interwoven with heritage and history. If ever they redevelop White Hart Lane this is the kind of place I hope they build. As impressive as places like the Emirates Stadium and the new Wembley are they are just 'cookie cutter' stadiums relying on steel, glass and concrete. Modern and architecturally impressive, but ultimately fairly cold and vacuous. I know the new owners of Liverpool F.C. have revised the designs of their new Stadium so that it has an element of individuality. If it's like the Arlington Stadium of the Texas Rangers (owned by Tom Hicks who is also a co-owner of Liverpool) then it should be good and will hopefully will provide an alternative to the IKEA-isation of football stadium design.

Anyway back to baseball. I know people in the U.K. trash it as simply 'glorified rounders' but that just shows a degree of ignorance and maybe insecurity. I think it is a great game. A sport for individuals masquerading as a team game. A sport whose history provides a distillation of that of the U.S. A sport where there is such a degree of 'luck' that they play so many games to reduce its significance. A sport where they care so much about the 'game day experience'.

Anyway, I had a great 'game day experience' watching the Baltimore Orioles take on the Oakland Athletics. In same ways it reminded me of the Hong Kong 7s where often events on the field of play were secondary to things like having a few beers, chomping on some hotdogs and generally enjoying yourself. In this case the 'enjoyment factor' was certainly helped by the fact that the Orioles gave 'the A's' a right old tonking!

The second game I went to was the New York Yankees against the LA Angels. This had an entirely different feel to it. The Yankees are used to winning and have won more World Series than the Red Sox, Dodgers, Giants and Cardinals combined. However, this year their season has started pretty poorly. Yankee Stadium is not brand spanking new, but it's still pretty impressive (in fact a brand spanking new stadium is being built). The crowd, though, were pretty boorish. I guess this comes when you expect to win almost all the games you play. Maybe it's also a result of the fact that the fans are 'New Yorkers' who don't take any crap? In some ways the experience is how I'd imagine going to a Chelsea game would be like -- the similarities with regard to money spent on players are definitely there!

The Yankees got off to a good start, but it all started to unravel when their starting pitcher was replaced by the reliever. In one innings the Angels took the lead without actually hitting the ball -- the Yankees pitcher kept walking the Angel's batters when the bases were loaded. The booing by the crowd was amazing -- and I've been at White Hart Lane when home players have been booed. The Yankees ultimately lost and their slump continued.

Cholesterol

Obviously part of the whole experience of going way is sampling the local 'cuisine'. Now my recent trip to the States to watch a couple of baseball games could hardly be called an epicurean's delight, but that was almost part of the appeal. Snobs out there might remark that I did eat 'a load of crap' on my trip, and I'd agree it wouldn't be my choice for a long term diet.

So this is what I ate:

Saturday

• Poppy seed bagel with lox and cream cheese from Ess-a-Bagel in NYC. This was bit of a disappointment as I forgot to ask for tomatoes and scallions. The bagel in it's own right was pretty good.


• 1/2 Pound 'The Works' Burger and fries from Fuddruckers. Fuddruckers bills itself as the 'World's Greatest Hamburgers', and to be fair the burger I had was mighty fine. 'The Works' bit means it come with bacon, cheese and mushrooms, what I particularly liked was the fact that they have a 'toppings bar' where you can add your own tomato, lettuce, pickle, onions, peppers etc. etc. The fries were of the chunky variety and were pretty good.


• Barbecue Pork sandwich from Boog's BBQ at Oriole Park. This was a bit on the cold side, but was still tasty.


• A 'Super Dog'. This really hit the spot after a couple of beers at the baseball. Probably not as good as the 'dogs at Dodger stadium, but better than those at Shea stadium.

Sunday

• Bacon, Egg and Cheese muffin type thing from Five Guys at Reagan National Airport. Five Guys do good burgers and I didn't fancy a monster sized pastry thing from Cinnebon, so I plumped for the Five Guys version of an Bacon and Egg McMuffin. It was O.K. but on reflection I should've probably gone for a burger.

• Strawberries and Blueberries -- I decided I needed some fruit. The strawberries tasted a bit weird almost as if they were fermenting. I put it down to the 'atmosphere' there packed in.

• A couple of Kosher Hotdogs at Yankee Stadium. Pretty damn tasty for a humble hotdog.

• A knish. This is a sort of Jewish/Eastern European potatoey dumpling/pie type thing. It was not as bad as my description suggests!

• A Chicken Burrito with a side order of Tortilla Chips and Guacamole from Chipotle. There's a bit of Mexican food snobbery when it comes to the virtues of Chipotle. People in the U.S. deride it as not being an authentic Taqueria or they complain that they use 'cilantro lime rice' in their burritos etc. etc. It may not be 'authentic', but I don't think that's what it sets out to be. Regardless, the food was good, plentiful and pretty cheap -- and a damn sight better than you can get in the U.K. I'm sure.

Monday

• All I had to eat before my flight was a banana and a monster sized Blueberry Muffin from Starbucks.

I can't be bothered to talk about the food I ate on the flights I took. Needless to say it was pretty generic stuff and just seemed very 'cheap'.

Planes, Trains but not Automobiles!

So my weekend of going to the U.S. to watch a couple of baseball games also turned into a minor study of different types of 'transportation'!

First up we had the 8 hour flight across the Atlantic. I'd managed to get a bulkhead seat when I did online check-in, so I had plenty of legroom and no seat in front to recline back in to me. Also I lucked out by not having a baby using the bassinet thingy. In fact I'm not sure there were any babies on the flight at all, which was pretty surprising given how busy it was (20 people 'left behind' according to one of the cabin crew). I think the only thing of any vague interest that happened on the flight was when an Indian woman fainted in the toilet. Her husband/son had helped her to the toilet and kind of left her to do her 'business'. When he came back to check on her she sort of fell out the toilet in a state of partial undress. There then followed a bit of mild panic from various passengers and she was laid out in the aisle and eventually came around. The crew were pretty calm and almost blase about it, so I guess it's not that rare an occurrence.

We landed a few minutes ahead of schedule at Newark Airport. The queue for immigration was nonexistent and I didn't even get any 'tricky' questions from the Immigration Officer. Once I was through immigration I breezed through the baggage reclaim area (hand luggage only), past customs and out in to the arrival hall. From there I had a short wait before the Marriott hotel shuttle picked me up and took me the half a mile or so to the hotel.

After a short nights sleep I was out of the hotel by 6am. Once again it was the shuttle back to the airport. However, I wasn't about to catch a flight, but instead I got on a coach to take me to Manhattan. When Cliff and I did this trip last year the coach journey took about 45 minutes, so I'd factored that in to my 'planning'. What I hadn't thought about was that at 6am on a Saturday morning there really wasn't much traffic about. As a result it must've taken about 25 minutes to get from the airport to Grand Central Station. After having a tasty bagel for breakfast there wasn't a great deal to do apart from get from Manhattan to La Guardia Airport. I had a choice -- I could get a cab, or save a bit cash and take a combination of Subway and Bus. I went for the Subway and Bus combo. I took the Subway 'uptown' to 125th Street and then caught the M60 bus to the airport.

Once again I had allowed too much time for the trip, and I found my self in the US Airways terminal at about 8.30am. My flight wasn't until 11am! So I had a fair chunk of time to kill. I wandered around the other terminals, browsed in Borders and then finally cleared security and headed for the US Airways Club -- the 'lounge' that my Singapore Airlines Elite Gold status gets me access to. I wish I hadn't bothered. There were plenty of seats, but that's really all it had going for it. I read for a bit and then it was time for me to find my gate and catch my flight to Washington D.C. At first I inadvertently joined the queue for a flight going to Pittsburgh, but thankfully realised my mistake and found the queue for the flight to D.C. Boarding was bit chaotic, with people with boarding passes for later flights trying to get on (maybe that's what I should've tried).

It was another full flight, and after a short time waiting in the 'queue' of planes to take off, we got airborne and headed South. The actual flight time was an almost embarrassing 35 minutes. I thought that this being a domestic US flight there would be no inflight 'service' but they did serve drinks and pretzels. I don't know how the flight attendants managed to get to everyone in the time they time between climbing after take-off and approaching Washington.

I was out of the airport terminal at Reagan National Airport in no time at all and made my way to the Metro station a short walk from the terminal building. I had a bit of a frustrating wait for a train as there was some engineering works and trains in both directions were sharing the same track. Once a train did turn up it was only a handful of stops before I arrived at the station closest to my hotel. I walked to my hotel stopping off to buy some T-Shirts from City Sports and to get a beast of a hamburger from Fuddruckers.

I dumped my stuff at my hotel and walked the mile or so to Union Station to catch an Amtrak train to Baltimore (the train actually went all the way up to Boston). I timed it pretty well and didn't have to wait long before the train was ready to go. The journey to Baltimore took about 40 minutes. Once at Baltimore's Penn Station I caught the Light Rail train to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the really cool home of the Baltimore Orioles.

The trip back to Washington after the game was again a combination of Light Rail and Amtrak. However this time I got the Light Rail train to Baltimore Airport and picked up the Amtrak train from there (it meant I could stay longer at the Baseball). I had a bit of a snooze on the train, but fortunately the train terminated in Washington, so there was no danger of me falling asleep and waking up in little old Redneck, South Carolina.

I was up bright and early on Sunday morning. I paid a visit to Starbucks to kick start my system before embarking on my first mission of the day. That mission was to get to FedEx Kinkos and check-in for my return flight back to Heathrow. Fortunately FedEx Kinkos was just around the corner, so I got online and checked-in with no problem and once again snagged a bulkhead seat with plenty of legroom. I also took the opportunity to check-in for my flight back to New York.

I walked to the Metro station and got the train back to the airport -- fortunately no engineering works today. The airport was pretty quiet. I grabbed a bite to eat and then it wasn't long before my flight was called for boarding.

We arrived back at La Guardia airport a little ahead of a schedule and again I was able to whizz through the airport. Being as I had such success previously I went for the Bus and Subway option to get from La Guardia to Midtown Manhattan. This time it wasn't as smooth as the bus seemed to stop every 500 metres to let people off and on. Nevermind -- I got to 125th Street in the end and took the Subway downtown to Grand Central Station. I made my way to the Grand Hyatt as this is where I planned to dump my bags whilst I went to the Yankees game. Things didn't go particularly well with the 'bell hop' guy wanted to know what room I'd stayed in and started going on about 9/11 etc. I blagged it and eventually he relented and stored my bag for me. So much for his security spiel.

The subway back uptown to Yankee Stadium was absolutely rammed -- on a par with the MTR in Hong Kong at rush hour.

After being nicely roasted in the sun at the game I went downtown to South St Seaport to do a spot of shopping. I then had a leisurely stroll, via a Starbucks, through Chinatown, SoHo and TriBeCa. My feet were starting to complain a bit by now so I jumped on the Subway at Astor Place and took the train back to Grand Central Station. I picked my bag up from the hotel, had a tasty burrito from Chipotle and got the coach back to Newark Airport. The coach journey was made better as I sipped surreptitiously from a couple of cans of Coors Lite.

At the airport I had a longer than expected wait for the hotel shuttle, but this did give me the opportunity to eavesdrop on a pilot wittering on about how he'd changed 'majors' at college so he could get in to flying, and how he now earned less than his previous job but that the conditions were much better. I was a bit concerned when he started talking about his life insurance policy!

At the hotel it was a case of shower, pack and then sleep.

I was out of the hotel by 6.00am and walked straight onto a shuttle bus which left straight away. The airport was pretty quiet, and despite having already checked in I still had to go to the check-in desk so that BA could check my passport and take the little green departure card thing.

There is bugger all to do at the terminal that BA uses at Newark (Cliff and I learnt this last year), so I took the 'airtrain' to Terminal C to 'have a look around' -- this didn't take long. I got the 'airtrain' back to the BA terminal, cleared security and then waited to board the flight.

The flight back wasn't totally full. I had hoped that the seat next to me would be free, but in the end someone did sit down in it. It's a pity that they smelt a little bit as though their clothes either needed a wash or a good 'airing'! It wasn't an overpowering or 'dirty' smell, but every now and then I'd catch a hint of something stale or musty. Again the flight was pretty routine, and this time there weren't any fainting Indians to liven things up.

R U Ready?

It's always a little bit stressful in the run up to a 'foreign adventure', and the preparations for this weekend's trip Stateside are no different! I'm not sure it helps that I keep getting emails sent to me reminding me when my flight is, what there is to do at Heathrow airport and that I have actually got some hotels booked in New York (well Newark really) and Washington D.C.!

For a couple of reasons I'm trying to do my 'weekend away' with hand luggage only. Firstly, I don't want to have to drag too much stuff around as I have to get from Newark to La Guardia Airport which isn't that straight forward and involves a few different types of transport. But the most significant reason is that I've been spooked by some horror stories involving mega-long waits for luggage when returning to Heathrow Terminal 4. I've experienced first hand the zoo that the baggage reclaim area can be, and I'm sure it will be at it's most chaotic on a Bank Holiday Monday evening when loads of people are returning from their short breaks.

The hand luggage 'challenge' isn't as straightforward as it should be especially with the current restrictions imposed by BAA and the TSA on liquids etc. I've got my little clear plastic bag rammed full of travel sized toiletries and I'm also counting on the hotels I'm staying at to have decent shower gel and shampoo.

Anyhow I've done the online check-in thing and I think I've managed to snag some decent seats -- not quite an exit row, but the bulkhead. I'm counting on the fact that people with babies will either travel on earlier flights, on Saturday, or not at all. Therefore the fact that I'm in the bassinet 'row' shouldn't be a problem (fingers crossed).

Time to double check I've remembered every thing........

Homeward Bound

So after a good (but short) nights sleep I was up and out early on my last day in Singapore. As part of my room rate breakfast was included. Breakfast buffets are always an interesting spectacle, especially in Asia. You can marvel at how much people try and cram on to their plates and also what totally 'inappropriate' food combinations people make. I think on this occasion I did pretty well as I had a plate which had scrambled eggs, teriyaki salmon and dim sum on it. This was accompanied by a couple of mini Danish pastries (on their own plate) and a decent sized bowl of fruit -- they do say that breakfast is the most importan tmeal of the day!

I walked off my breakfast binge with a quick hike from the Pan Pacific to the Orchard Road MRT station, I then caught the train back to City Hall.

I left my hotel and headed to the airport for my flight home at about 10.30am.

Once at Changi I killed a bit of time in the SATS 'Premier' Lounge which was totally rubbish and the only benefit was that there was free booze (a bit early for me) and some food (but I was pretty stuffed). Not a patch on the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow. Unfortunately mere 'Elite Golds' aren't allowed to use the real Singapore Airlines business class lounge in Singapore.

I timed my move to the gate area a bit late and literally walked through security and straight on to the plane. I expected other people to be sat next to me in the exit row, but the seats were free for the time being. Unfortunately they didn't stay that way as some Australian bloke moved from a few rows behind me and sat next to me. He then tried to monopolise the armrest -- I wasn't completely happy, but fortunately the elbow dueling over the armrest ended in some kind of equitable truce.

The rest of the flight was largely as dull as normal. We did have an announcement asking if there were any doctors etc. onboard when we were somewhere over Afghanistan. I had visions of us having to make an emergency landing at some hell hole airport in that neck of the wood. Thankfully it didn't come to that. I wasn't surprised that one of the passengers needed medical assistance since there seemed to be a higher than average number of overweight old duffers onboard!

Heathrow seemed suspiciously quiet when we got off the plane. We did have a mega trek to get to immigration. I bypassed the long queue by using the IRIS 'lane'. This is the first time it's actually paid off, as normally I'd still have to wait ages for my bags to appear on the luggage reclaim belt -- but not this time. My bag was actually on the carousel when I got into the baggage hall! I was out of the airport about 15 minutes after the plane parked at the gate, surely some kind of record?

All that was remained was the blast up the M40 home.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

After a winter of wearing shoes and socks my feet have taken a right battering over the last couple of days. They are not a pretty sight having been abused by a combination of Birkenstocks and flip flops.

Sunday can be summarised as follows:

• Swim at Delta Swimming Complex
• Food
• Shopping
• Food
• Shopping
• Food
• Shopping
• Etc., etc. you get the drift.....

I figured that the swim and walking up and down Orchard Road justified the eating!

I finished the day with a few Tigers at the Long Bar at Raffles, a tasty Thai meal and then a couple of pints at Brewerkz. Life can definitely be sweet.

I'm in Singapore

So what do you do when you turn 33? Well if you're me you jump on a plane and head to Singapore for the weekend. This is a win-win situation on a number of levels -- I get to use the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow for the first time, I earn a bundle of airmiles, I get to have a weekend of tasty food and I do bit of shopping.

The 'Clubhouse' experience was very cool -- I had about 4 glasses of champagne and a rather tasty 'Clubhouse' burger. My flight over to Singapore was uneventful but as long as ever. The earlier champagne consumption came back to haunt me a bit as I had a bit of a hangover type headache going on (well it wasn't just the champagne, I think the Tiger beer and red wine might have also had a hand in it).

We arrived early in to Changi airport and I was in a cab and on my way to the Pan Pacific hotel in no time at all. I checked in to the hotel and wondered why there were loads of tall, athletic girls in the lobby. It turns out there is a badminton tournamont going on and a few of the teams are staying in my hotel -- bonus!

I showered and then hit the 'mean' streets/shopping malls of Singapore. My credit card hasn't had too much of a battering yet, but it's only a matter of time! I was very restrained on the food front -- I had a curry puff and a popiah for lunch/afternoon snacks. I was saving myself for Satays later!!

The satays were good, but probably not the best I've ever had from Lau Pa Sat. Also I was sat pretty close to one of the stalls so had to put up with barbecue smoke wafting in my direction and some atrocious Malay radio station. Nevermind, the jug of Tiger still went down pretty well!

After Satays it was the, almost traditional, sweaty walk to Brewerkz for a couple of refreshing beers. I also had the added 'pleasure' of watching a couple of EPL games -- shame one of them was West Ham v. Bolton. Brewerkz was still 'buzzing' after the earlier derby match (and I'm not talking about Bedok v. Kallang). Far too many United fans. It'll be interesting to see how amny people are out supporting Chelsea or Arsenal tonight.

I have to start somewhere.....

What's all this Blog stuff all about? Well now I've gone and got my very own one -- pretty exciting stuff. I can almost feel the 'white heat' of technology.