Singers

Only a few hours sleep until I get up on Saturday morning to finish working at the client before I jump on a plane at 1655 to my final destination, Shanghai. I just met up with my mate, Chang Ling, who took me out for a night on the town in Singapore. We went to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel and had a glass of the famous Singapore Sling (very nice), followed by a pepper crab and deep fried squid down by the Singapore River at Clarke Quay (an expat hangout). The Long Bar has cracked peanut shells all over the ground. You can throw your shells on the ground as they want the Long Bar to be a place where you can relax and not worry about making a mess. Chang Ling’s plane got in late so we only met up around 11pm and of course Singapore was still going strong when I got back to the Orchard Hotel, where I’m staying, around 2.

Singapore is a pretty cool place. I had heard from some people that it is sterile, and I imagined it would be all concrete and road but there are heaps of trees and greenery throughout the city which makes it really pleasant. The weather suits me fine, its hot all the year around. Earlier this evening I went for a walk along Orchard Road, the famous shopping road in Singapore. I bought a couple of accessories for my camera (and did some bargaining) and the camera guy also taught me a few new functions on my camera that I didn’t know about (probably because I didn’t read the manual yet).

I have been working at a client out in Jurong Town, about 25 minutes by taxi from the city. There is a ship building company right next door (hey Stew, this isn't where you were working in Singapore is it, when you were doing the cable ship?).

I take the freeway out to Jurong Town - some workers travel in the back of a truck to work, and I was wondering what they do when it rains... then it rained and I found out-->
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Last night I managed to get back from work in time to go on a Night Tour of Singapore. We went on a boat ride on the Singapore River, had Chinese seafood for dinner, went to the Raffle Hotel (no time for Singapore Sling) and Bugis Village (serious bargain shopping).

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It has been a painful few days in Singapore as THE sale of the year has been on in Singapore but I’m already overweight in baggage so I couldn’t buy anything (damn all those client workpapers, not that I wasn’t already overweight). Oh the shoes, the shoes…. Hunter, I was thinking of you as I looked at the shoes.

The Fullerton Hotel, Singapore

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Backtracking a bit, Brisbane was fun. I caught up with my ace friend Mish and her new hubby Troy. We ate dip and watched Mythbusters so I know they are true friends.

The last night I was there the client took me and Desmond (my colleague from Hong Kong) out to Turkish for dinner at Southbank. The restaurant was great, a vivid Turkish theme throughout. Then it was straight onto the plane for an overnight trip to Singapore and then straight to the client there (after an hour in the hotel to freshen up). Luckily the plane was empty so I got 3 seats to myself and slept quite well. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Brisbane at night.

A huge thanks...

A huge thanks to my great friends Az and Dingo, who put up with me for 7 WEEKS while I stayed at their house during my homeless stage prior to departing for Shanghai (via Brisse and Singers). And an extra huge thanks to Az for coming out in her car to look for me when I got lost on her street one night. I rang her and managed to tell her I was lost at which point my mobile battery ran out. It would have been good if I stayed put until Az found me, especially since I was actually at number 70 of their street, their house being number 78. Nevertheless, I know South Blackburn pretty well now.

I have experienced some wholesome vegan cooking but I probably wrecked the nutritional value by eating chicken schnitzel sandwiches at lunch (go Gazza and Jules!!) (but not all the time!).

Anyway, with any luck I might see these guys in China sometime next year.

Exotic destination number one

A quick update - a couple more changes of plans and it turns out that the first exotic destination I will be visiting is Brisbane!!! I will be here from Monday to Wednesday, and then Singapore for about 3 days, and then (with any luck) Shanghai.

How many days left?

It's been more than 8 days since my last post and I'M STILL IN AUSTRALIA. There are a few things still being sorted out on the work side of things so all I can do is dream and surf the internet. I was looking through my Lonely Planet, and came across THIS idea:


So let me know if you're interested! Apparently the real trans-Siberian is Moscow to Vladivostok, whereas Moscow to Beijing is the trans-Manchurian or trans-Mongolian. there also seem to be some options to do a round trip from Beijing up to Vladivostok through Mongolia, which sound fun. Searching on the web I found a nice travelogue site on China, Mongolia, Russia and the trans-Mongolian rail (and lots of other places around the globe where this traveller has been), with lots of cool photos. Check it out here if you're interested. Looking at the map now I realise most of it isn't actually in China so I may receive some criticism over this. I'm planning to go to lots of places in China too!

Rob, my journo friend, has given me my top 5 goals for while I'm in China. They are:

1. Learn to speak Chinese.
2. Recite Dr Suess's 'Sleep Book' in Chinese (a favourite of mine, that is in the English).
3. Travel to all the must see tourist sites in China.
   
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5. Bring back a Chinese kitchen utensil not commonly found in Australia and use it to cook at a dinner party when I get back.
   

I've forgotten the other one so hopefully Rob will remind me, and by doing so participate in my self-indulgent blog.