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Posts Tagged ‘skylines’

After a very pleasant flight from Singapore, I arrived in Bangkok and was slightly disoriented. I’d forgotten that they’d opened the new airport here, and it took a minute for me to put two and two together. My initial reactions were that they’d really cleaned things up since I’d last been here – until I realised that I’d never been to the new airport before.

The good news is that the new airport is world-class. The bad news is that the new airport is miles from the centre of Bangkok, and it takes ages to get into the centre of the city. Compounding the problem is the fact that the airport is three years behind schedule, but the Skytrain link to the airport is five years behind schedule – so there’s no alternative to a taxi through the congested roads of Bangkok.

My hotel is conveniently located near the office. It’s also conveniently located in the middle of about a million strip clubs and not much else. Here’s the view from my window of the “local amenities”:

Bangkok clubs

Something tells me you get more than a massage at this place…

Bangkok clubs

At least this place doesn’t pull punches about what’s on offer inside!

Bangkok clubs

I gather they’re not referring to their sandwiches when they advertise a ‘foot long’.

I get to see all the most glamorous places!

The view is at least a little nicer during the day…

Daytime view

A daytime view out my hotel window

I had my camera around my neck as I walked around Singapore… Here are a few more shots.

Merlion

The famous Singapore Merlion, shot from across the harbour outside my hotel

Singapore skyline at sunset

Singapore skyline at sunset

Singapore skyline at sunset

Singapore skyline at sunset

The Singapore Merlion

The Singapore Merlion

The Singapore Merlion by night

The Singapore Merlion by night

Streetlights

Streetlights
Singapore harbour, just after sunrise

Singapore harbour, just after sunrise

The Durian Convention Centre, which looks a lot like the fruit!

The Durian Convention Centre, which looks a lot like the fruit!

A sea of cranes -- there is construction going on everywhere in Singapore

A sea of cranes — there is construction going on everywhere in Singapore

It’s another nice morning in Singapore. Friday night was a bit of a wash-out. We were all tired from a long week, so after a few quick beers with my client after work, I headed straight back to the hotel and into bed. Life looks so much nicer after ten hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Today is all about doing some sight-seeing around Singapore. Gina, my colleague, is taking me out for some dim sum (yes, this is the same Gina that is responsible for taking me out to Steamboat on the first night and ensuring I spent the first few days of the trip feeling quite ill). She lived in Singapore for ten years and is keen to show me the sights, although knowing Gina the sights are likely to include quite a lot of the shops along Orchard Road!

I did a little shopping myself the other day. I needed to set up Skype so that I could call back to the UK without spending a fortune. After a somewhat disappointing first attempt using the built-in speaker and microphone, a colleague insisted that a good quality headset was the key to reliable Skype communications. So I headed out in search of a Sennheiser headset, which took me to Funan IT mall (and solved my Skype problems!). I’m sure for anyone who lives in Asia and is surrounded by new technology, this sort of mall is commonplace, but for me it was a little overwhelming. Imagine a seven-storey mall full of nothing but IT shops. For a gadget guy like me, there is temptation everywhere. Only my upcoming trips to Hong Kong, where technology is even cheaper, has kept me on the straight-and-narrow…

I’m really warming to Singapore. It’s cleaner than anywhere else I’ve been in Asia by a long way – so clean that it loses a little bit of its character. It doesn’t have the same buzz as Hong Kong or Bangkok – the pace of life is much more sedate. The food is wonderful and there’s a huge variety, all of it very cheap. Taxis are ten-a-penny, inexpensive, and make it very easy to get around the city. Customer service is just as refined and friendly as you’d expect it to be. The fact that everyone speaks good English means that it’s really easy to communicate and make yourself understood.

If Disneyland created countries, they’d have created Singapore.

Just a short entry to let everyone know that I’m still alive. Arrived in Singapore after a pain-free 13 hour flight from Heathrow. I managed to sleep for most of the flight, so arrived feeling fairly refreshed. I flew in one of the new BA seats and faced backwards for the entire journey, which was a little weird.

It’s warm and very humid, just what I expected. It feels a little bit like Disneyland – all the characteristics of the rest of Asia are here, but everything is spotlessly clean and orderly. It’s almost a shame – the lack of grit and grime takes some of the character out of the city.

Nevermind. One of my colleagues grew up in Singapore, and took us out for our first night to a Steamboat place – the Singaporean equivalent of shabu shabu. So I got to cook my own food in a place that looks like a one-way street to food poisoning. We’ll discover by tomorrow morning how wise it was to follow her advice.

The view from the hotel room over the Singapore harbour

The view from the hotel room over the Singapore harbour

The view from the hotel room over the Singapore harbour at nightfall

The view from the hotel room over the Singapore harbour at nightfall

Self-portrait

A self-portrait in the hotel room of Singapore harbour at nightfall. Didn’t have much lighting equipment or a tripod with me, so had to make due with what was available in the room!

The Singapore Merlion

The Singapore Merlion

Do-it-yourself dinner

Do-it-yourself dinner. This was the locals’ choice, but we’ll see if my stomach is up to it!

Adding value

A consultant’s life is always about adding value to his clients. It turns out that in Singapore, they’ve automated it. When this machine finally makes it’s way to England, I’m screwed.