Last Singapore trip of the year

The anticipation for long weekends never, ever gets old. October also happens to be a great month for days off with National day and Chung Yeung Festival. Cheung Yeung festival happens to fall on Friday which means, an extra day in Singapore. Well, really just an extra meal in Singapore, I decide to take the morning flight into Singapore that gets me in around 4 pm. Having an extra meal in Singapore is small minor but makes a huge difference. The weekend was pretty relaxed, which is nice when traveling. The theme of the weekend was Apam Balik, or Min Kiang Kueh, or Ban chan Keuh.

Dinner and cards with Albs in New Bahru. Saturday we caught up with my cousin, had some hawker food and tried some Bryani and a Studio Ghibli evening with pizza and left over Pavlova. There was a covid scare (yes, this is still a thing).  Sunday, New Bahru market for breakfast, ice bath and sauna, some Vietnamese for lunch and off to the Airport.

The weekends go by so fast. I'm losing track of these Singapore trips. Which I guess is a good thing?

Weird to think that this is the last Singapore trip for 2024. Currently reading: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

Singapore

Second trip to Singapore. Another redemption flight, got a cheeky upgrade, so feeling very grateful there. Pretty relaxed trip. The after work flight on a Friday is a tough one, but if it means not having to scramble after work and getting a little bit later, then no issues. Finally got to see her new apartment. The home away from home.  

Saturday got a massage, caught up with cousin for some Chicken Rice and had dinner and durian for dessert. A classic Singapore day. Much cooler than in Hong Kong right now. Sunday was relaxed, popped over to Siglap for the UFC and then back to the Convention centre for some a friend's and family sale. Back to Hong Kong.

Shorter Long Distance

First trip to Singapore - some things to be grateful for, managed to book the flight on points, although admittedly once you add tax, the fare still works out to be almost 50% of a fully paid ticket. Every saving counts. Second thing, the flight times are perfect, after work so I won't need to be rushing out of the office and doesn't get back into Hong Kong too late. The first of many identical flights. Stayed in a serviced Apartment and scoped out the apartment scene in Singapore. It's interesting to compare what the apartment offering is in Singapore, compared to my recent experience in Hong Kong.

Also can finally relax, because I've managed to find a new apartment, although the week ahead will be packing ahead of next weekend's move.

SG

Nice relaxing trip in Ho Chi Minh, returning to Singapore to see colleagues, and friends I missed on the first weekend. Thankfully I have taken more photos, but this doesn't necessarily mean less of a whirlwind.

Stand up comedy, looking at trees, virtual RATs, the kiss, sobriety, evening karaoke.

Singapore visit

I can't describe how nice it is to travel again, not so much the process of traveling but the ability to travel. I'm sure I speak for many when I say it's been a while since we traveled anywhere to celebrate anything. After a fairly relaxing trip in Phuket it was off to Singapore to celebrate Jaydon's birthday. The old Hacienda grove, home base for many a Singaporean travels. Arrived at 5 pm and after the the catch ups and well wishes ended up at Public House for some beverages. Caught up with Kev, Will, Albs and Serena. Great energy.

Bit of a whirlwind weekend, arrived on Friday. Dog point on Saturday morning, into hawker food, haircut into day BBQ. Sunday fly out.

Sydney

Back in Sydney after almost two years. It's nice to be back!

A "Virtual" Wedding

In what seems to be the accepted norm, events are moving online. Everything from virtual graduations (more to come), to virtual dates, to virtual conferences, and now, virtual weddings. My living room, TV and laptop are becoming common place items in a sequence of virtual events. 2020, as somebody looking in, seems to be a great excuse to do things. By things I mean, we've seen the announcement of expecting parents, engagements and marriages. 

The couple who were planning to get married next year in Bali decided to move ahead and tie the knot virtually. Despite being all around the world, there was an element of celebration and seeing familiar faces in different timezones still made for a special occasion.

Currently reading: "The Happiness Hypothesis" 

Singapore Roadshow #2

I suspect this may be my last work trip for the year. Based on the 2019 timeline there's nothing else in my calendar. Plus, there's about to be a change in personnel in the office which means less hats, which could potentially result in less trips for some people, including me. Which works out well especially with school in the background.

The plan touches down at 7:50 pm, it's a five minute taxi to the gate and we disembark at 8 pm. The flight has been delayed by 40 minutes and I'm rushing back to the hotel to host a call at 9 pm. Not surprisingly, there's a reason why Singapore Airport is constantly voted the best airport in the world, and part of the reason has to do with how fast it is to get through customs and security. By 8:30, I have checked into my hotel room, logged into my computer with 20 minutes to spare. The call finishes at 9:40 pm and I make my way down to the Park Royal restaurant. I'm 28 hours into a water fast and need food. I look over the menu, I order the Chicken Parmigiana (I know, I should have gone for some local flair, but in all honesty, it didn't look very good). Couple of drinks at the bar with the boss and I'm in bed.

The following morning I wake up for a full day of meetings and a strange feeling in the stomach. I put it down to the late dinner and order a bircher muesli. Throughout the day I start to feel increasingly more queasy, as soon as the final meeting is done, I head back to the hotel. I have a slight fever, achy muscles and dizziness. The evening is spent on the toilet with fever and cold shivers. I wonder if I'm paying for last weekend at the Hong Kong Sevens. I eventually crawl into bed and endure an evening of fever, sweaty sheets and broken sleep. In the morning I wake, all symptoms have disappeared. That will teach me to order Western food when in Singapore.

The remainder of the trip goes without hiccup. Caught up with some friends, managed to hit the hawker centre, wrapped up the remaining meetings and like that we're back on a flight to Hong Kong. I've said it before, but I'm starting to take a shine to Singapore. If only the weather weren't so aggressively uncomfortable.

Singapore Roadshow

Taking on Singapore this time. Three days, managed to get in early and spend some time with the Singapore favourites. Some quality conversations and good catch ups. Really enjoying the time here, feels a lot more grounded than Hong Kong. Or maybe it just feels a little more like Sydney. Work-wise, good productive trip, solid meetings, lots of new business. Hopefully a sign of things to come in 2019.

Singapore F1

In Singapore for the weekend - worked out to be good timing as we avoid a T10 mega typhoon. Unfortunately halfway through my trip I receive a message from my neighbour (who never messages me). "You're not at home are you?" and the proceeds to send a photo of my bedroom window open. What luck ...

Singapore Stag

I've always had an affinity with Singapore. For one, I have no problem sitting in a hawker centre, pushing the physical boundaries of my stomach. Two, everybody know somebody who lives in Singapore, it is incredibly easy to meet up for a coffee or a meal. Three, deep down it reminds me of Malaysia, a polished, cannot-lah version with an awesome airport and arguably the most talkative cab drivers in the world.

This weekend's occasion was a Bachelor Party. Singapore isn't the first destination you think of when you think South-East Asia Destination Stag Party. It was however, the only weekend the groom-to-be was available. I'm close to the bride, and by association had become close to the groom. In total, two of us flew from Hong Kong to Singapore. We stayed with a couple who now called Singapore home. They had just moved into a huge 3 bedroom apartment in Orchard. All things considered, their life seems idyllic - Married, both have successful careers, enjoying life abroad.

The stag was a fairly civil affair. The father of the stag happened to be in town and came along for the ride. Go-karting, Pool, Dinner in the Quay, Karaoke, copious amounts of alcohol, capped off with some late night Thai. So, this is Singapore life?

Events Management

A last minute change has led to my first foray into events management. I had been thrown into arranging the annual APAC event. My time was spent confirming attendance, calling hotels, meetings with vendors, planning panel discussions, organising conference rooms, selecting dinner menus and arranging buses. The two day event in Singapore went by without a hitch and I even managed to find some Ban Chaan Kuih in the neighbourhood of Commonwealth!

I have to stop losing my mind whenever I see a donut shop. Currently reading "All the Light We Cannot See"

Singapore

First opportunity to travel with my current work to Singapore of all places. Now as I sit going through the receipts accumulated over the 4 day trip, I wonder if it was actually necessary to be eating 6 times a day. The breakdown of my expenses are as follows: Taxi, breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, taxi, dinner, supper and so forth. Not too sure what the Finance department will say when they see my 11 pm order of Nasi Goreng and a Milo Dinosaur.

Actually, the purpose of the trip other than to justify the new campus was to promote the brand of the separate departments. Highlights include, Client Management winning the trade fair, me being selected to stage a 'question' for the APAC CEO and the campus buffet.

Sing-a-ling

I have been working with local HR and a Fragomen consultant in order to extend my Hong Kong working Visa beyond the current expiry in August. The paperwork has been completed and is scheduled to be processed closer to the date. The extension is something I have been working with and it came as a surprise upon leaving Hong Kong through the E-Channel that the second gate did not open after submitting my thumbprint. The officer came by, looks at my Hong Kong ID, looks at his PDA, looks at me and mutters something in Cantonese, as by default I retort, "huh? sorry?".

"Your Visa has expired". 
"You must be mistaken, it's May and it says in my Passport that my Visa expires in August". 
"Follow me, come this way".

Drama. Long story short, Hong Kong Immigration has in it's database that my Visa had expired a few days ago, the story goes, because I had transferred my Visa to my new company (having been there for one year now) it had reset the duration and I was now allegedly working unauthorised. My protests fell on deaf ears, and the officer would not have a bar of my appeal. Despite the severely of this breach, the penalty was a reasonable ~130 HKD fine.

Again, Singapore was for another friend's 30th Birthday. We would stay with the Birthday Boy in Siglap and the nice thing about the trip was that two friends from Sydney would be making the journey over to Singapore for the weekend too. I'll spare you the details, of a Birthday weekend trip in Asia, in short it was: Fenix, Mink, Late night Buh Kuh Teh and becoming familiar with 'The Inbetweeners'.

The weekend was marred by a typical Singapore experience at the Marina Bay Sands restaurant, Mozzo. Most of the diners had traveled from different places, Singapore, Hong Kong and Singapore and transferring money in between party members would incur transfer fees and overhead, so we requested that we split the bill evenly between each person. Not capable of splitting a bill more than three-ways we had our credit cards thrown at us along with a contract stipulating that we had indeed broken the contract that we had agreed to by dining at the restaurant. The experience epitomised the Singaporean mentality and the culture bound and protected by rules and protocol. I had experienced this working with our Singaporean Office and despite the abrasiveness I convinced myself that I was not at all surprised in how it was handled. To the restaurant's credit, the manager came out and profusely apologised for the manner in which the staff acted and smoothed things over (we ended up paying on one card). Despite this, the weather was amazing and the food delectable; still haven't ruled out a short stint in Singapore.

Fatigued and tired I was once again pulled up by immigration on the way back into Hong Kong. Lining up for with the regular folk, in the regular non-HK-resident line. First thing tomorrow morning, I'm contacting HR and sorting this "expired Visa" situation out!

Currently Reading: "Flash Boys"

Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)

One of the perks about living in Europe was, irrespective of month or season, there is always something to look forward to. Europe offers a proliferation of events throughout the course of the calendar year. Festivals that cater for every walk of life. This includes whiskey, cheese, toy, food, cultural not to mention the various music festivals always keep you looking forward to the next event. Some events of course form the cornerstone of the European calendar: Glastonbury, The Running of the Bulls, Oktoberfest and Christmas Festivals round up the bigger ticket items.

Thankfully Asia also has its share of events. Chinese New Year, The Full Moon Party in Koh Samui, Cherry Blossoms in Japan, the Hong Kong Sevens are some that come to mind. Which brings me to the next event, Singapore F1. It's a time where Singapore hotels rates increase up to 150%, where flights to the island become more regular and where tickets to the hottest night race of the year get sold out. Due to reasons unknown, I missed out on last year's F1. I never heard the end of it, "You missed out on an excellent weekend! You should have come". So here I am 12 months later, in Singapore, managing my expectations for a great weekend.

The siblings joined us for the weekend; a reunion in Singapore. Funnily enough we ended up watching the race from our Marina Bay Sands room all while the cars whirred around the hotel. Excellent weekend, hanging with the sister, relaxing by the pool and  attending possibly the best Sunday party I have been to in Amber Lounge. Read,  €500 per person for entry,  €12,000 for a table of 8. This includes, brushing shoulders with the drivers, live performances by Lemar and free flow Champagne. Suffice to say, my 6 am Monday morning flight was hell. I arrived at work smelling distinctly drunk and wishing I were in bed. Now I understand what they were talking about.

Singaporean Whim

The perks of being in Asia with access to a budget airlines. Fresh Air, clear skies, plenty of room service and a little bit of magic.