Home sweet home

We landed into Gold Coast about 25 minutes late despite leaving KL only about 10 minutes late.  Perhaps we tried to avoid some turbulence.  The transit was done in the one hour timeframe except we lost a passenger.  While we were retrieving and offloading her luggage, she turned up.  Poor little old lady; bless her. […]

Read more

Homeward bound via JB & KL

Above:  Peeling my mango like a banana, for breakfast. I finished my last mango this morning, opting to peel it like a banana. It was juicy and I had to eat it over the sink. Muesli followed later after I packed my stuff away for the last leg home. Checkout was 1100 so I went […]

Read more

Thaipusam on the Eve

I walked out to Serangoon Road nearby after breakfast hoping that the Thaipusam procession would be underway and sure enough it was. Devotees witih various forms of kavsdis dribbled through. It wasn’t a continuous stream. I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Since I couldn’t get any antihistamine cream and my sandfly bites were in […]

Read more

Back to Singapore for Thaipusam

I chose to take the 1130 ferry to Singapore as it meant I could leave close to my hotel checkout time and get to Singapore around the checkin time (with an hour time difference). After my breakfast of muesli, papaya and milk, Anton picked me up at 1015 and dropped me at Harbour Bay a […]

Read more

Back to Batam

Above:  Last glimpse of Natuna, near Ranai after take-off. With a mid-morning departure from Natuna back to Batam I neither had plenty of time nor had to rush. I had a breakfast of soto next door before being taken to the airport by Yuli. It wasn’t a long drive but speed was restricted in the […]

Read more

Motorcycles Diaries #2

Meng couldn’t take me out today but Bey had offered. As she was busy in the morning, it would be a 1230 start with her.Yuli brought nasi dagang with a choice of egg or tuna, and mini bread balls filled with tuna. I was told I couldn’t have just one so walked away rather full. […]

Read more

Motorcycle Diaries #1

I grabbed a breakfast of gado-gado and very sweet milk coffee next door. I had brought milk and muesli but got tempted into this. Yesterday I had finally agreed to go with the pricey car excursion. That’s what I thought but at 1000 Meng turned up on his motorbike (called “Honda” in Natuna regardless of […]

Read more

Flying to Natuna (and about Natuna)

My destination today is Ranai on the island of Natuna Besar in the Natuna Archipelago, which is part of the Riau Islands of Indonesia. It is not well known so I guess I’d better give it an intro. Background & History of Natuna Natuna consists of 272 islands in the South China Sea that is […]

Read more

To the Big Republic via the Tiny Republic

Flying to Singapore Today I fly to the tiny Republic of Singapore to transit to Batam in the other Republic … the big one, Republic of Indonesia. The head of the big republic once jokingly called the smaller one “Little Red Dot”. A good friend Boo happened to book on the same flight to just […]

Read more

Pleasant surprise

For the second leg from Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur, I ate my meal and took a pill and slept till about an hour before landing. It was over 3h of waiting before the first flight of the day to Kuching so I had some breakfast of Assam Laksa, knowing full well I’d have a […]

Read more
Go top