Surrender for your checkup!!!

Whatever happened to 'Ya names not down, ya not comin in!!!!'

I figured this a bit on the 'harsh' side! A full body search *sound of rubber gloves 'thwaaackin' into place* doesnt appeal...just to go have a beer and a boogie!
This wasnt anything other than a typical nightclub. Nothing flash, exclusive or out of the ordinary.
Needless to say, I didnt go in !!!

Jesus loves you....even if AstroBoy doesnt!!!

"AstroBoy, a hero to thousands, no, hundreds of thousands around the world today announced that he is officially boycotting Xmas.
Faced with media scrutiny, AstroBoy was typically tight-lipped, but allowed his actions to speak for themselves."

I found this outside the AstroBoy shop @ Bugis Junction Shopping Centre. I had to take the shot. I dont know if staff put AB in this position, or he was shipped like this, but it made me laugh.

Xmas is Coming - Yeee Har!

So I've finally had a minute or two to look up and take stock!! Its been a really really full on 6 weeks, or should I say 6 months!! and I'm now taking this weekend to plan out Xmas and New Year.

I have some work/meetings in Tokyo on/around 20th December and will stay on in Japan to hook up with a few mates, spend a few days in Tokyo sightseeing and then head up to the snow and have a White Xmas :)

Niseko, Hokkaido is the destination of choice, its is supposed to have some of the best dry powder snow in the world (do I sound like I know what I'm talkin bout?!)
But, in the meantime, its all about getting presents ready and off for the folk back home (nieces and nephew) and planning the trip.

I was out on Orchard Road the other night (gotta love the 7 day late night shopping!!) looking for some pressies, and took these shots.






The lights are absolutely amazing, but thats what S$5million can get ya!!! The cab drivers think its a disgrace and they dont mind tellin you about it!.

Up above the clouds

A photo I discovered on my camera probably from the flight back from London.
Thought it was *nice* so here it is for your pleasure :)
Sharing is caring!!!

Does it feel real to you?

So what seems like an age ago I blogged about some good news. The proposal to O'Reilly to publish a book co-authored by Matt Voerman and I was accepted, and now look whats happened!!!!

So, I'll be taking orders soon ;) Best we get the book wrapped up now!
It was a bit of a buzz and also a little 'scary' to see the on shelf date as July 1st.

Home, Sweet Home

OK...finally, I have taken a few shots of the house. More to follow, but these should be enough for now.

So my place is a renovated shophouse in Little India district of Singapore. I have the second and third floors, and an import/export holding 'room' occupies the ground floor.

Not the most desirable location due to its busy and bustling feel. But I think its quite cool. On a Sunday, the indian migrant workers (labourers) have the day off and descend on Little India. Its madness. Upto 300000 people cram into the area to eat, drink, pray and catch up with their mates. Sometimes this can be a bit annoying! But mostly its quite OK.

Singapore's only 24hr department store is around the corner, which is hella convenient. Ha, I said 'hella'!!

I have about 8 indian eating places within 60 paces from my front door. Theres a 7-eleven convenience store 2 minutes away, an MRT (tube) station about 5 minute walk away and I'm about 5 minute cab ride from City Hall/Raffles Place.

Whilst lacking in the mod-cons of a condominium, the price is great, the location is cool and it suits me fine :) Still a little sparse, or I think the interior designers call that 'minimalist', and I'm yet to get artwork for the walls, but is progressing nicely!!

Here are the pics.

Stairwell leading down to my front door at street level. This is a private access stairwell. And Zao loves to hang out down here!!! Dont ask me why, but he does.


Um, Bedroom!



Loungeroom

Loungeroom...


guess where this is? No? Loungeroom!

Will get some more of the whole place up n online soon.

London Restaurants

So on my recent trip to London, I was taken to two outstanding restaurants.


The first was with the senior accounts team for Juniper Networks. It was a great Indian restaurant called Mint Leaf. They have a really swanky entrance, and a great pre-dinner bar.
The dinning room is wonderful. A series of dark wood, low light and mirrors. The tables are low, and the chairs are really plush lounge type chairs.


The food was excellent, the service was awesome, the Whiskey Sour's were very good indeed (!!) and the company was great. Chatted about everything from internet dating to dream vacations.

Had the best night and was home and in bed by midnight!

I can highly recommend this place.













The second one was on my last night in London.

David Wood took me out to an amazing place called Crazybear.This too had a very impressive entrance and wonderful downstairs bar.

The 'rest rooms' were an absolute trip. You really have to see them to believe em!

The restaurant serves contemporary Thai food and I was very impressed. Soft shell crab for entree and Ox Cheek stew with grilled asparagus for main...awesome.
Again, had a great night and the restaurant is highly recommended.

Thanks to all the DWA staff for their openess and help, and to David Wood in partcular. A more accomodating bunch I have never met. Thanks.

To Veil or not to Veil?

Such a deeply personal question, and not really one that I want to wade into blindly, but after reading this article on the BBC site, I thought about my experiences in Asia, and in particular, Kuala Lumpur.

I was thinking about when I first encountered the niqa-b how intimidating/confronting it was. It really was a bizarre thing to feel, but in a hotel lobby in KL around school holiday time for the Arab states, KL is a holiday destination for many of the arabic population, the initial 'fear' that I felt of these people, clad from head to toe in black; a very slight slit to reveal just a touch of the eyes. Was a very strange emotion.

In some respects I think it was fear of the unknown. I couldnt get an emotional 'gauge' - was she happy, sad, pissed off. And that was very un-nerving.
Kinda like that blank face you encounter at a presentation, but worse, cos blank gives you something to work with :)

On another level, I thought what a totally impractical dress routine for this climate...full length, jet black, and its 30+ degrees outside?! Are you insane?!

The more and more I visited KL, and the more I encountered the niqa-b, hija-b or burqa on the street, in cafe's, hotels, cabs, the more I became used to it. However, I still have a somewhat slightly un-nerving feeling when confronted with a niqa-b.

Now obviously practices of thousands of years aint gonna change to placate Simo's 'fear of the dark', but if I feel this way, many more must do. And I wonder how many people who would normally not be in any way predjudiced might act slightly differently when confronted by this 'dress'.

Its an interesting thought.

Heavy man!! On a lighter side, I was once staying in the Darby Park Apartments in KL, on or around the 10th floor.
So one morning I wake up and the sun is piercing through the windows, and its only 6:15am.
I get up, make a coffee, flick on CNN and think about the day.
Head out to the balcony and hear all sorts of laughter and activity in the pool area below.

So I look down at the strangest and most bizarre sight.
Approx 12 ladies & girls dressed head to toe in niqa-b & hija-b IN THE POOL!!!! Clothed head to toe. Chuckin beach balls, running and jumping all dressed in the full nine yards black dress.
For me growing up in a culture where poolside clothing was a pair of boardies for guys or for ladies a one, two or no piece (!!) costume, this was an odd one!!!
So I had a chuckle and wandered back inside to CNN normality...hmmm, that doesnt fit!!

Jet Lagged

So, its 6:15am on a Monday, and I havent slept overnight. My body clock is all outa whack and its been 4 days since I got back from Europe.

I had a great trip out to London last week.

Both professionally and personally had a great time. Met with a few design firms that service one of my clients through Europe.

Shared some great ideas and came back with many an action point!!!

I also met with Nikkei Business Publications representatives and have been invited out for dinner in Tokyo when I'm up there towards the end of December :) Free dinner...woohoo!!

I had an opportunity of catching some friends that I hadnt seen for sometime and a BIG bonus was the treat to get out to Fulham vs Everton @ Craven Cottage...a big treat for a soccer nut!!
The game ended in a loss to the toffees, but hey, I got in a game :)

After the game spent an hour or so wandering along the Thames in Fulham. What a beautiful part of London. And the weather was fantastic.
Saturday afternoon was spent catching up with more friends and colleagues, and Saturday night was spent preparing for Monday meetings.

On Sunday I went and ran around a bunch of the sights of London. Regent Street, Apple Store, Piccadilly Circus, Nelsons Column, National Gallery, Covent Garden,
Harrods and everywhere inbetween. After that, it was an early dinner, followed by a pint in the pub with a few colleagues, and finished with prep for Tuesday's meetings. (and a night of work for a Singapore client :( )

Here are a few photos from the whistle stop tour of London.


This sign was a few hundred metres up the road from my hotel, right near Russell Square - the site of the London Terror attacks in 2005. When I last lived in the UK, I spent quite a bit of time in this part of London, but it really hit home that Russell Square, the tube station and the surrounds were significant parts of my life back then...this combined with missing the second Bali bombings by a few days really made me sit back and think.


A beautiful cold dusk in London, looking towards Harrods. That store is AMAZING!!!
I bought my Mum's and sisters birthday presents in there. And the wrapping service was awesome!!



A true national treasure. I could have spent the week in the National Gallery. Sadly a few hours had to do.


The Apple Store in Regent Street. Wanted to see an official Apple Store, and it didnt disappoint!!! Bought a Nike+ sports kit as its not available in Singapore yet. Its absolutely awesome.




OK...best I try and get an hour or two in before work or I'll be a grumpy bugger at work today.

Pulau 'Paradise' Pangkil

So as a thank-you to all the office staff for the efforts put in to-date, Nick (Creative Director/Owner) decided that we should go away to a private island in Indonesia as a group!
Now who am I to say No Thanks, thats not needed!

The island is called Pulau Pangkil Kecil and is located south of Bintan Island, south west of Singapore.

The trip to get there was pretty straightforward and it took about 3 hours all up. So at 9am a ferry from Tanah Merah ferry terminal from Singapore to Pasir Pinjang, the southern port of Bintan. From here, a coach ride to some remote location to catch a local Indonesian boat across to the island.

The effort to get there was well rewarded. A beautiful island in the middle of nowhere. over 12 private beaches, wonderful 'driftwood palaces', food drinks, snorkelling, kyacking, and the old school pasttime of chilling out.

It was just so relaxing and one of the best work related thank-you's I've ever had.
The work crew (and additional friends) were super cool. Was a perfect way to meet my new work colleuges away from work.
The food was magnificent. The Bintang's went down a treat, as did the late arvo scotches!!

We played scrabble, cards, bocce, and hung-out poolside...yep! A fresh water pool on the island too!
Here are a few photos.



Naz doing her mermaid thang!



The main house on the island...how cool is that!



Arriving...or leaving. One of the best 'hotel' lobbies I've ever seen!



Some of the crew enjoying sunset on one of the many beaches.



These amazing rocks on the northshore of the island. There are some rocks further inland that form a little grotto leading to the pool. I have some video that I'll stitch together and upload later.



There are a family of HUGE lizards living around the pool area. This is jnr taking a morning swim. My 'Driftwood Palace' overlooked the pool and was simplyy outstanding!!!! Can you tell I liked the island!



My palace...overlooking the pool. We spent quite a lot of the weekend hanging around here. Had laptop, itunes, and the 'house' speaker system...we rocked!!



Sunset....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.



Nick & co just having a refresher.



Homeward bound...the instigator & all round great guy, Nick.



Get that beer into ya son! Slog aka MrLederhosen aka Mr Warner looking a little hesitant over that beer. Twas around 10am. Lightweight ;)



One of many statues around the island. Beautiful.

And last but not least. One of my favourite shots. Taken by MrLederhosen of Steve, a good friend of my work colleagues. I heavily touched it up in Photoshop - love my saturated colours...can ya tell?!



Now Nick....that conversation about next years trip...;)

Contribute 4

OK...So its been a topsy turvey kind of month. Been a bit ill, been flat out at work and all in all,  zero time to blog!

I've just in stalled a piece of software that I've used before (many times) called Contribute...only this new release supports direct blogging to Blogger and other blog services! So here we go!

I'll let you know how it works out, being the first post using Version 4 of the software, I'm gonna try out all the 'fruit'!!

Bye Bye Miss Scarlet

So as mentioned earlier, my Scarlet Hotel stay is well and truely over!! And not before time!

Dont get me wrong, the place is fabulous, but I'm SOOOO much happier now I have more than 4 walls and a bathroom to hang out in!!

I thought I'd better post a few photos from my stay at the hotel...just to close that chapter.

So here are some really great staff that I spent and still spend some time with.
Happy & Akbar (yes, her real name is Happy, how cool!!!...and she is pretty much always happy!)


And Farid & Arman. Awesome bunch of people and always had a smile and a kind word.




And I thought I'd better place a few photos of the room too. So here goes.

The Scarlet Hotel is a boutique low-rise hotel in China town. Its basically a row of shop houses that have been gutted and tarted up!
The really did a great job. Thsi photo shows the street, Erskine Road, and the hotel occupies the whole street across the whole second floor. Below the hotel is a row of shops, gift store, florist etc etc.

So there ya go! If you're ever in Singapore, go say hi to the guys at the bar, grab a Sinagpore sling and chill for an hour.

Time Goes By

WOW! Over a month since my last post...where did that month go?!
In that time, sooooo much has happened.
I went to Pulau Pangkil Kecil (private island!!) with my work colleagues and Mr Lederhosen (he just happened to be travelling through Singapore at the time...lucky bugger!!)

I FINALLY moved out of the hotel!! And into a renovated shop house in Little India. (I like it!)

The Eagles won the AFL Grand Final, I ducked across to Pulau Bintan to play 18 holes on the Jack Nicklaus designed Bintan Lagoon Resort...oh! and it was my Birthday!!!

So...I'll be adding details of all these events and more; just so u know whats going on up here.

Festival for the Hungry Ghost

One of the things I love about Asian culture is festival time. And there are quite a few festivals throughout the year!!! We're currently heading through the 'Hungry Ghost' festival. Have a read about it. Its quite interesting. Lots of pomp and ceremony.

Someone told me the other day that during the festival (which is predominantly for loved ones that have past) there are plays, and opera's and dinners, that are attended by no-one (except the participants). These shows are just put on for the past spirits! I think that's quite cool!!!!

Also, one tradition is to burn paper money, which symbolises you giving the money to your deceased relatives or friends (fake money, but a good gesture). I was also told that you can buy paper Mercedes, paper houses and even paper maids!!!!! Crazy, but true. Photo is the Hungry Ghost offering at Maxwell Food Centre.

Can I take you out for dinner?

I know its a cheap lawf, but I had to take this photo. I mean really...first 'Talk Cock Sing Song' Bar and now YuKee foodhouse?

This place is across the road from Mos Burger @ Bugis Junction. Mos Burger rocks!!! They're tiny wee burgers. A Japanese franchise I believe.

There are so many of these, maybe I'll create another blog just for mad signage!!!

Chinese Cooling Water & Seafood Twisties!!

So I was wondering around Singapore and sweating like you wouldnt believe. Good exercise, but I really needed something to rehydrate.

So popped into a chinese deli. I obviously went straight for the Gatorade bottle, 1 litre. But a small chinese man walked over, took hold of the Gatorade and mumbled something, put it back and grabbed me this!! Three Legs Chinese cooling water!! Isn't the 'normal' water kinda cooling anyway?

So I read the stickers to find some information on it. My mandarin hasnt improved much! The guy at the shop couldnt really communicate what it was. So I thought, eh! When in Rome. Tasted a little like chalk and water...nope, never had chalk and water before but you know!!!

Did it work? I'm not really sure. I was happy to have had a drink, and yes I was cooler! but I dunno! So I did some research and found these articles. Quite interesting.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Halls are everywhere, as you'd expect. I havent given em a go yet, but I'll take some photos and post em.

I've found all sorts of strange and bizzare products.

Like Seafood Twisties...called Seafood Suprise...boy oh boy! The only suprise was that I didnt vomit. But I'm one for trying new foods! I also found a classic eating house...well, classic name. Who the hell names these places?

Final Hand Dryer Report!

So before you ask...no I dont have a thing for bathroom hand dryers. I'm just noting what I see. Hey Seinfeld ran for 10 years talking about nothing right!

So this hand dryer was the best hand dryer I've ever used!!! What was the criteria for judging? Well, dry hands in the quickest time without singing hair or burning flesh.

Kinda like a trouser press, without the press bit; you stick ya hands in the gap, and wooooosh, in about 6 seconds your hands are dry!! Amazing! I found these at Funan and the Airport!!

OK, OK...thats the last report on hand dryers. (I dont care, I cant see them getting any better after that one anyway!)
;)

The Coffee Connoisseur

Coffee. Coffee. Coffee. So I've just ordered one of the best ever coffee's - so I'm told. Blue Mountain from Columbia. Voted worlds best coffee at some coffee show.

I'm at a coffee shop called 'The Coffee Connoisseur' or TCC for short! A Singapore coffee house chain that aims to be "the leading purveyor of gourmet coffee's". Started in December 2003, they now have about 25 stores islandwide
It appears to be an up-market Starbucks, much more 'refined' and has some awesome desserts and tea's.

Oh! The anticipation is killing me! Its a $10.20 coffee but I thought, eh! what the hell. A beer would cost me at least ten bucks, so why not just try this gold label coffee...its an experience after all!

Stay tuned....here she comes!!!

Oooo, flash! Served in a nice china cup and saucer, somewhat like Wedgewood's 'Cornucopia' pattern.
Great coffee. Very nice indeed. Bold, but balanced....ah what the?! Was a great cuppa in nice surroundings.


Worth ten bucks?
Well, probably not. But my Mum (hi Mum!) always told me, 'go for quality'. (Especially true with socks n jocks!!) My Mum also told me 'this life isnt a rehearsal' - no truer words spoken!!

So, strike that off the to do list! Best Beer off the list (la Chouffe), Best Coffee off the list (Blue Mountain). Next...Best chocolate?

I Love Great Signs

The more places I visit/live in, the more I start to appreciate, good easy visual communication.

BUT, even the clearest visual communication cant persuade some people. Or maybe some people are just dumbasses!
This made me laugh!

Actually just to the left, out of shot, a guy, who i assume is the bike owner, was slumped against the wall havin 40 winks! His helmet sitting next to him!