I arrived in New Zealand on Monday afternoon. While wait for my friend to collect me - I began to wonder - did I have the right city - it was Auckland - I’m sure she said she had moved, did I tell her the right time? Will I recognise her? There was no need to worry - Jay arrived within 10 minutes of me coming out of customs and she looked the same as I remember, funny enough she wondered the same thing but apparently I haven’t changed either. The following day I went exploring around Auckland, Auckland isn’t very big and can be done quite quickly. I took the tour bus round the city, there are in fact free buses you can take instead but I decided that the commentary would be good to ... read more
The first thing that stuck me about Sydney was not the amazing weather or the buildings but in fact that so many people were walking to work wearing flip flops… and I think you can safely say that sets the pace that is Australia - laid back. The first couple of days I spent wandering round the city. I started in William Street where the road is full of car showrooms and not you’re usual Fords. There was Ferrari's, Bentleys & Maserati's… if you look up when a city seesighting bus passes down the road - trust me it’s the men that are up taking photos and no need to guess on what! I went down to the Opera House, how could it not be my first stop? When you look at the Opera House from ... read more
My second day in Singapore started a little later then anticipated but hey - it’s a holiday. I headed out to the Raffles hotel in search of my Singapore Sling - they say no trip to Singapore is complete with out this ritual. After a wander round the gardens I find the famous long bar - though from what I heard it has actually moved about 4 times - so does that mean that its not actually the bar and just a replica? I was greeted by the manager - and I asked to be seated at the bar - it has to be the bar not a table for the complete experience ….. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what I was going to ask for - Singapore Sling Madam - ... read more
I arrived hours too early for my flight to Singapore - The oldies were going back to Punjab and that takes hours….. and I mean hours - nothing like going from one end of the UK to the other - perhaps twice the journey and you can get a good idea. I thought I could get away with going into the airport early - oh no they don’t let you enter unless it’s a couple of hours until your flight - they sent me across to the visitors lounge to wait. Now as useful as this is - its not the ideal of places for such a long wait - the chairs or should I say Qoasy kill - all I can say is that you get numb. . And to top it all off - ... read more
That is India. It started with my brothers IST - that’s Indian Standard Timing - if you don’t already know what that means - basically there is an inherent gene that Indians seem to have - where all concept of time is lost on them…. Yup we were running very close to the line. I arrived at Heathrow with 15 minutes to spare to bag drop and then 5 minutes to get through security. So image my surprise when once getting through - we were delayed flying off - IST of course We were staying in a city in the Punjab called Jalandhar, we have a place there so it’s great to be able to come and wind down. Sunbath on the roof in the late afternoons - nothing could be better. Trust me hotels ... read more
