Bankers

Sat at Brewerkz enjoying a few pints of American Pale Ale. There are some bankers on the table next to me (British and American). The topic of of their conversation ranged from skiing in Japan to beach condos in Vietnam via the new apartment one them has moved to in Singapore (near Clementi).

Just as they were about to leave they got on to the topic of their annual bonus. Talk about bitter. Apparently despite both of them having 'stellar years' they are expecting to receive smaller bonuses. Lots of sniping about colleagues and the unfairness of everything! I think one works at Morgan Stanley and the other possibly at JP Morgan.

Quite amusing and so far removed from the 'real' world to be almost satire.

Posted with Blogsy

Day Trip

Well in fact not even a day - I was in Kuala Lampur for 4 hours. Actually to be accurate I was at Kuala Lumpur airport for 4 hours. With a 30 minute train journey there and back to downtown KL it wasn't worth the hassle to do anything more exciting than clear immigration (to get my passport stamped), have some lunch and then return airside.

The purpose of my short excursion was the 370 miles I'll earn which will nudge me over the 50,000 mile threshold to keep my KrisFlyer Elite Gold status. Well worth it!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Tick Tock Transit

So by the time I got off my flight from Hanoi until my flight to London was scheduled to depart I had a whole 6 1/2 hours in Singapore. As much as I love the global hustle and bustle of an airport, I didn't particularly want to spend all of my 6 1/2 hours in one.

I dropped my bag at Left Luggage. This is normally a really quick and easy process, but today I was behind an Australian who was being a bit gormless.

Bag eventually dropped, I managed to time my arrival in the Immigration Hall just as a flight from Sydney was making its way through. My time in the queue was made longer by more more gormless Aussies who hadn't filled out their Landing Cards properly.

Slowly my time was ticking away......

I got in a cab bang on the dot of 6pm (just as the evening peak charges start - great!). My destination was the Swissotel Merchant Court hotel from where I could easily walk to Brewerkz.
The journey took 20 minutes, but cost me $26. Cabs in Singapore are no longer the bargain of the past. Still not a rip-off like at home though.

Tick tock......

I ordered my first beer at Brewerkz at 6.25pm. The place was nice and relaxed when I got there, but seemed to get mobbed with young children and their slack parents soon after I sat down. I should've sat at the bar instead of outside.

I had one other beer before paying up and setting off for a bit of a power walk to Lau Pa Sat.
Time now 7.10pm.......

I knew from looking on the internet that Lau Pa Sat was closed for renovation, but the street serving Satays was still going full swing. I sook a seat at Best Satay at 7.25pm. I ordered an XS Set (20 sticks) and a glass of Tiger. I think I must have set a satay consumption record as I finished my 20 sticks and beer by 7.45pm.
I was running a bit low on SGD so decided that I'd take the MRT to the airport - similar duration but much cheaper.

The train arrived at Raffles place at 7.50pm and I got off it at Changi Airport at 8.25pm.

I cleared immigration and that sort of ended my transit time. The rest of the time until until departure would be spent having a shower and in the dull surrounds of the KrisFlyer Gold lounge trying not to boredom eat.

Posted with Blogsy

Civilised Hanoi

I put a week of sitting on miniature plastic chairs whilst eating off tables barely above the floor behind me last night. Civilisation does exist in Hanoi!

My evening started with a Charlie Chaplin Martini at the Le Club Bar at the Sofitel Metropole. I then had an exquisite 'menu dégustation' at a fairly refined French restaurant, La Badiane.

Normally I would probably consider a 'menu dégustation' a bit of a con as the portion sizes are quite small and it is more heavily geared towards flavour and presentation (I like flavour and decent sized portions!). Anyway, this was perfect tonight as I'd been on a 3 hour lunch time food tour around the Old Quarter of Hanoi earlier in the day and really didn't need 'filling up'!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Food

Today has mostly been about food!

I want on a lunch time 'Food on Foot' tour which took us around the Old Quarter - so pretty much on the doorstep of my hotel. The tour lasted about 3 hours, so it makes for one of the longest lunches I think I've had.

There were 3 other people on the tour (all Australians) and we ate a ton of food!

Some of the restaurants we went to I'd either already eaten at, or had the dishes that they specialised in. However, that wasn't a negative thing at all, and I did get to try a lot of new stuff. I think the highlights were:

• Trying frog (Vietnamese jumping chicken) for the first time. Tastes like chicken.
• Sampling food from Hué - very different to food from Hanoi.
• Having bia hoi with a group with proper snacks.
• Trying some lethal rice wine with all kind of infusions (though not snake).
• Having ca phe with whipped egg yolk and condensed milk. Sort of a Vietnamese sweet cappuccino - I'm surprised Starbucks aren't all over this.

I think the only real negatives were that we ate to much, and also because a lot of food in Vietnam has fresh rice noodles at its core - we had a lot of noodles!

In a complete change of tack, for dinner I had a fantastic meal at a French restaurant called La Badiane. No little plastic chairs and tables here! I had the 5 course 'menu degustation' and it was fantastic. An extremely civilised way to end my Vietnamese eating experience for this trip.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Ha Long Bay

I'm now back in the chaos/mayhem/madness (delete as appropriate, but all apply) of Hanoi after my couple of days on Ha Long Bay.

The reality is that, taking into account the four and a half hour bus journey there and back, it was about 24 hours actually spent aboard a junk cruising around limestone karsts (this did include one night). My experience was good and it was well worth it, but frankly one limestone karst is very similar to another!

The actual 'cruise' experience, rather than the geography, was the thing that was interesting/amusing/annoying (again all three adjectives applied).

First of all were the meal times. We had 3 meals on board - lunch, dinner and a late breakfast. The food was pretty good with, understandably, a heavy seafood focus. However, I sort of expected some kind of communal dining experience with everybody around a shared table so that you could actually talk to a variety of people. But no, as there were two single travellers we were expected to eat together on a table for two. Me a (very) late thirties Brit, her a later middle aged Canadian from Ottawa. Not a great deal in common beyond travel!

Thankfully by dinner time I'd got talking to two young, female English doctors, one at Southampton General Hospital and the other currently living and working in New Zealand (friends from Newcastle University, holiday sort of in the middle). We had much more in common so we made a table of three for the rest of the meals. The Canadian had hooked up with a group of three other Canadians who were retirees.

The next thing that was interesting was that of our group of 14, 2 were vegetarians and 1 was coeliac. How the hell do you survive in this part of the world with 'strange' eating preferences/disorders?

The final thing of note that was amusing was seeing Americans play up to my own personal stereotype. The couple in question were on a 3 day/2night cruise, so we saw them when they'd been out on the bay for a day and a night already. Talk about loud, and in the case of the woman, dumb! One of the other people in their group was giving them an iPhone tutorial which was comedy gold. Stupid people and technology should not mix!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Dark

Off to Ha Long Bay tomorrow for an overnight cruise. I have a hunch that there might not be any wi-fi on the the boat I'll be on!

It will be interesting to see what nationality my fellow cruise passengers are. Aussies and Brits tend to be at the backpacker end of the spectrum, so maybe the cruise I booked will be out of their budget (hopefully). There are plenty of random Northern Europeans about, but most of the French I've seen appear to be part of big tour groups (the boat I'm on is hopefully too small to accommodate them). Then of course there are the Americans..........

Posted with Blogsy

Diplomatic Incident

For lunch today I had a delicious bowl of pho ba (beef noodle soup) accompanied by a bowl of quay (fried light, fluffy breadsticks, to dip into the broth).

All was going well except I made a couple of school boy/naive tourist errors. First of all I should have paid when I ordered and before I sat down - I only realised this when I was sat down and watched the steady stream of people coming in. Never mind.

My second error happened when I went to pay on my way out. I was sure I gave a 100,000 Dong note, and this was reinforced when I got 45,000 Dong change. I hung around to try and take some pictures of the kitchen area (a fascinating production line of broth, noodles, beef and vegetables). I was then asked to pay again. I was a bit dumb and handed over 100,000 Dong despite protesting that I'd already paid.

100,000 Dong is £3, so not a massive scam (if at all). I huffed and puffed a bit and loitered outside, mainly to try and take some pictures. However, the owners of the restaurant realised I still wasn't happy and they enlisted someone who spoke a bit of English to try and explain what was going on. I still couldn't get my point understood and didn't understand what they were trying to say. I walked away.

Only as I was thinking the 'incident' over in my head as I walked down the street (trying not to get run over by mopeds) did I think maybe I'd handed over a 10,000 Dong note instead of a 100,000 Dong one. Too many zeros and a very similar colour. Silly tourist!

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Woolen

Before I left home, the last thing I packed was a blue jumper. Very much a last minute thought, but tonight I got to wear it.

The weather here has been pretty pleasant during the day - warm (as in shorts and t-shirt temps) and not humid at all. In the evenings it does cool down a bit - very much on the cusp of the seasons changing.

The forecast for the rest of my time here is a bit patchy with some rain predicted. Hopefully, it'll just be light/short showers rather the marathon rains they get during the proper wet season. I might get to use my rain jacket (I didn't pack an umberella).

Posted with Blogsy

Money

I have millions of Dong still to spend. Things are just too cheap - my average meal is costing about £2.50!

After tonight's water puppet show I decided that I'd splash some cash at Le Club Bar at the Sofitel Metropole Hotel (think of a French interpretation of Raffles Hotel).

I had a Charlie Chaplin Martini (he visited her on his honeymoon), a croque monsier sandwich (as a light post dinner snack) and three Hanoi beers. My total spend was 965,000 Dong, or about £30. Still pretty good value I reckon. I might come back to try one of the restaurants - need to choose between French or Vietnamese!

 

Posted with Blogsy

iPhone Pest

I went to watch a water puppet show this evening. I could describe it, but you'd be better off doing a search on YouTube. That's because so many people were filming the show on their various devices - phones, cameras, handicams etc.

The woman in front of me (late middle age, possibly German, but could've been from further north in Europe) was a right pain. She insisted in holding her iPhone up in the air whilst recording large chunks of the performance - this was more often than not right in my line of sight to the stage. I tapped her shoulder and asked her to put her phone down several times, but she just seemed oblivious. I also resorted to kicking the back of her chair in a childish protest. The lady sat next to me also wasn't too impressed.

When the lights came up at the end of the show I gave her a very withering, British style stare when I caught her eye. That'll teach her!

Posted with Blogsy

Experience

Right so my first full day in Hanoi is almost over. I'm starting to form an opinion of the city and by default Vietnam. I have to admit I'm slightly underwhelmed, and in some cases unimpressed. So here is a list of things that have lodged in my mind and started to mould my opinion:

• It is dirty. There are no litter bins and people just chuck stuff on to the street. 'Keep Vietnam Tidy' obviously doesn't exist as a concept.
• The city has a few genuinely interesting sights, but lots of places just seem very rundown/careworn. A consequence of recent history?
• Lack of public toilets. Lots of peeing in the street going on. Not great when Bia Hoi is 16p a glass.
• Miserableness. This is harsh as the British aren't renowned for a 'sunny' disposition. However, compared to the Thais and Cambodians, the Vietnamese just seem slightly cold.
• Traffic mayhem. Walking the streets is hard work. You have to concentrate 100% to avoid getting run over by a moped. Crossing the road is an acquired skill and not for the timid!

Things in Hanoi's favour are that it is very cheap and the food and beer is good -- but there of lots of places in Asia where that can also be said.

Maybe my opinion will change over the 5 remaining days I'm here!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Bia Hoi

Unfiltered, unpasteurised, fresh beer. Not particularly strong, but at 5,000 Dong (15p) for about half a pint I don't think anybody is complaining. Tastes alright too.

Posted with Blogsy

Scam?

I arrived at the hotel I booked in Hanoi and started the process of checking in. I even got my welcome drink.

But I never got to my room.

Apparently the people who had been staying in my room, and were due to leave today, were at the hospital because one of them had food poisoning. Consequently I had the pleasure of a short taxi ride to a 'sister' hotel of the one I'd originally booked, as this would be where I'd be spending my first night in Vietnam.

For all I know this could be a totally genuine issue, but I'm on full alert in this part of the world as there are plenty of stories of people being scammed.

Tomorrow the plan is to check out of my substitute hotel early and go to the one I actually booked to check in properly and then have breakfast (I was told the breakfast in my proper hotel is better than the substitute). Hopefully it will work out fine, but my sceptical nature means I can't help thinking it won't be totally trouble free!

Posted with Blogsy

College Game Day

Saturday is all about College Football. Because of the time zones there appears to be games on all day.

In Seattle there appears to be a phenomenon where everybody where's college clothing (shirts, sweatshirts etc.) from, I'm guessing, wherever they went, or where their kids are. I've not really noticed it as much in other places in the US I've visited.

Posted with Blogsy

55,107

That was the size of the crowd at the Seattle Sounders game last night! And that size of attendance isn't rare. Impressive.

The game itself was a bit slow in terms of how quickly the passing was - extra touches for control etc. Obefemi Martins was impressive for the Sounders and he scored inside 2 minutes of the kick-off. Cling Dempsey made an appearance from the subs bench after the US World Cup qualifiers.

A highlight was the Soundwave band - light years away from the dire England 'band'

Posted with Blogsy

Boeing

Busy day today involving taking a hire hire to Everett to go on the Boeing Factory tour.

The driving is always a bit interesting to start. I reckon it took me about 30 miles to get used to driving on the right and just the way US roads work (especially the highways).

The tour was brief, but impressive. I got to see the 747-8, 777 and 787 production lines. The scale is bonkers, and I can't get my head around the fact that the 777 line is a moving line similar to how cars are assembled (true the line moves very slowly).

I was lucky and saw the brake test and then first flight of a 777-300 ER destined for Cathay Pacific. I also saw an Air Astana 767 take-off and then just as I was leaving another Cathay Pacific 777-300ER (B-KQH) take-off which may well have been its delivery flight.

 

Posted with Blogsy

King Salmon

The food here has been universally good. Tonight's meal was standout.

I'm not normally a fan of salmon and think that is because I've always had it overcooked. Well here they love their King salmon and they know how to cook it -- practically raw in the middle like a decent steak.

Also they have their rubs. The salmon in the picture was a 'Cedar plank roasted Alaskan King salmon with chef Howie's famous rub'. It was brilliant (but not cheap!).

 

Posted with Blogsy

Counter Culture

Seattle is renowned for being a Mecca for 'counter culture'. Basically not buying into the mainstream, living an 'Alternative Existence'.

In my mind I see that this has manifested itself in the music scene, the coffee culture, the multitude of craft brewers (and their great beer), the passion for local, sustainable, organic food and tattoos. Yup tattoos.

They appear to be everywhere. Oh and there is a high degree of odd (visible) piercings. Maybe I'm just noticing them because there are more compared. It does seem to fit in with the Seattle vibe (admittedly there are plenty of people with no 'ink' anywhere on their bodies).

Posted with Blogsy

Marination Nation

This was fantastic, and no seafood in sight! It was a spicy pork torta from Marination Nation. Really tasty.

Marination Nation has an interesting story. They started out as a Food Truck offering Korean-Hawaiian-Mexican fusion food (yup, not the most obvious marriage). Anyway the result of this marriage has been a highly successful Food Truck (I saw the queues when they were parked in Downtown Seattle yesterday lunchtime).

So successful in fact that they now have a bricks and mortar location in hipster central, Capitol Hill.

When I ordered I struggled as I had that 'chilli at the back of your throat' feeling as the air was laced with chilli as they prepared somebody else's lunch!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Hot

Today has been a sort of record-breaker. It has been the warmest September 11th in Seattle since records began. A very nice 33 degrees Celsius.

I think people in Seattle have a very British attitude to the weather -- today has been a 'scorcher' in their eyes. I was talking to a couple from Dallas on the bus, and they were saying how comfortable they were finding it. "Cool enough to walk places" was the comment!

Posted with Blogsy

Husky Dawgs

This afternoon I spent some time wandering around the main campus of the University of Washington.

A seriously nice place. And a seriously big place -- a total of about 42,000 under and post-graduate students.

I don't think term/semester has started properly yet, but there were lots of signs out for 'freshman orientation'. There was also some kind of strange sorority thing going on I think. Hordes of girls, dressed up walking in big groups around the campus (with purple backpacks with UWGreeks.com on).

Oh and the sporting facilities were on a different planet compared to a UK university. The American Football stadium (Husky Stadium) has a 70,000 capacity! I have to get to a College or NFL football gain soon.

Posted with Blogsy

Grey's Anatomy

Cliff will be disappointed that I haven't bumped into Meredith Grey since I've been in Seattle. Never mind the show is shot mainly in Los Angeles and that the Seattle Grace Hospital doesn't exist!

Posted with Blogsy

Football

The NFL season started on Friday, and its been been wall to wall on ESPN since I've been here.

The Premier League could learn a thing or two about maximising the exposure they get. The one thing in the NFL's favour is that the regular season starts at the beginning of September and is pretty much done by the the end of December. Every game is mega important -- not many games have teams simply going though the motions.

The Seattle Seahawks had their first game away at Charlotte with a kick off time of 10am on Sunday. Plenty of bars were buzzing at that time!

Posted with Blogsy

Pike Place Market

Well apart from Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, CostCo, Starbucks, Baskin Robbins and UPS, Seattle is intrinsically connected to Pike Place Market.

I went on a 2 hour tour of the market today with Savor Seattle. The guide was a mildly camp wannabe comedian from San Francisco, but entertaining nonetheless! The problem with tours is you don't get to pick your fellow 'tourists'. It's even more of a lottery when Americans are involved! Thankfully my group were not too dumb/excitable/enthusiastic/naive.

There were lots of samples from the various places we stopped - it meant I didn't need to worry about lunch.

The best fact of the day was that the so-called first Starbucks is a lie! If I remember correctly the first Starbucks was in a basement of building that has since been demolished. The one at Pike Place is probably the fourth store - but it was the first one to actually serve brewed coffee (the others sold beans only).

 

Posted with Blogsy

Cod

Great meal at the Steel Head Diner tonight. In fact calling it a 'diner' is doing the place an injustice -- the food was way better than typical diner fare.

I stuck to seafood. Dungeness crab cake to start and then Oregon cod for my main course. I felt almost virtuous tucking into my meal -- no ha,burgers or French fries in sight!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Football

The NFL season starts this weekend and ESPN, in fact pretty much all TV channels, are wall to wall with their coverage.

The Seahawks were playing away at Charlotte this weekend and anyway I was here for some baseball!

I enjoyed watching the Mariners against the Tampa Bay Rays. It was a bit one sided as the Mariners played like a team looking forward to a winter catching rays in Florida (they lost).

Safeco Field is mighty impressive but I wonder if it's ever been full. It seems a bit excessive to have the baseball stadium right next door to CenturyLink Field where the Seahawks and the Sounders play. Who knows what kind of political shenanigans were involved when the stadiums were being planned and built.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Local

When I'm on my travels I like to go for the *local* stores over the global mega-chains.

Well in Seattle Starbucks counts as *local*, so I had no qualms getting a latte this morning to kick start my day!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Burger Me!

I'm turning in to a bit of a burger geek. I've knocked off a fair few of the renowned London burger spots and to be honest I wasn't planning on having any whilst I was over in New York for the weekend.

However, my greedy side got the better of me (no doubt encouraged by the fact I'd had a few beers in the sun at the baseball). So my pit stop at Shake Shack was totally understandable!

The SmokeShack burger I had was the burger highlight of the year so far -- soft moist bun, perfectly seasoned and cooked beef patties, crisp bacon, chemically enhanced cheese and some kind of genius derived sauce. Delicious!

I was almost tempted to stop in there after the ball game today. I was strong and resisted!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Melting Pot

I'm sat in the BA lounge at JFK waiting for my flight home.

Like the one at Heathrow my fellow lounge occupants are a random bunch -- exacerbated by the fact that you also get Iberia, Qantas and Cathay Pacific passengers using it.

I know it is dangerous to judge people by their appearance, but there are some seriously wealthy people in here. Lots of banker 'types' (I've seen a couple of JP Morgan and Barclays Capital bags) and plenty of families (and these are with children who will be charged full fare).

I've no idea where I fit into this complicated social dynamic!

Posted with Blogsy

Red Nose Day

Another beautiful day in New York. I had to get some more sunblock as the stuff I'd brought with me wasn't a high enough SPF factor.

Despite meticulous application and wearing a cap during the Mets game I still managed to end up with a marginally red nose!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Sunshine

A lovely late summers day in New York - warm, sunny and, as the locals keep saying, 'no humidity'!

My only plan for the day was baseball at 4pm. I spent the morning walking downtown mostly by the East River and then buzzing into a few shops in SoHo. It was quite good not having the feeling of need to rush around to see various sights or visit particular shops.

For lunch it was oysters and clams at The Oyster Bar at Grand Central station. I'm sure this is typical pre-baseball food!

The baseball was a bit dull, mainly because Detroit were much better than the Mets. I enjoyed a couple of beers and tried to do my best to avoid getting sunburned.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy