Author archive
10 October 2006
We took a taxi to the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal near Changi Airport for the ferry to Bintan, Indonesia where we would spend a couple of nights at Club Med. Check-in went smoothly and I was impressed that our Indonesian arrival and departure cards had been filled in for us! The terminal wasn’t maintained to […]
7 October 2006
Above: View of Gulangyu from my hotel room. We left the hotel for Xiamen airport around 0900 for our 1220 Silkair flight to Singapore. We couldn’t enter the check-in area for a while and when we were, it was another wait till the counter opened 2h prior to the flight. The counter staff kept an […]
6 October 2006
Maternal great grandfather’s home Breakfast at the hotel was a repeat of the greasy fare from two days ago. I skipped the greasy rice and noodles and settled for congee and greasy vegetables. Even the pickles were greasy but they went quite well with the congee, as did the very fine ikan bilis. We had […]
5 October 2006
Getting to Zhao An Step-dad woke me up at 0510 because he thought I should have been up for my daytrip to Chan Village in Zhao An. But I had taken care of my wake-up time with an alarm for 0545. I took a taxi to the bus station. With the ride only taking five […]
4 October 2006
Gulangyu gone wrong The Chinese breakfast at the hotel was very greasy. But it didn’t put off the domestic tourists from filling up big-time on the food. After breakfast, we headed out to try some change SGD to CNY at the Bank of China across the road. I was surprised it was open being a […]
3 October 2006
Above: Chinese Opera performer on the street in Xiamen. Leaving Singapore Today I take Mum and step-dad to Xiamen for a little holiday. Despite booking the SilkAir ticket online, electronic ticketing wasn’t available and we had to collect the ticket from a counter before proceeding to check-in. The flight 1120 flight left slightly late and […]
2 October 2006
Above: Chinatown by night in the lead-up to the Mooncake Festival. In the evening, Jacob and Janet took us out for a drive and a wander around Chinatown. The area was very nicely illuminated and decorated with lanterns for the Mooncake or Mid-autumn Festival. Janet was very proud of how Singapore celebrates the various multi-ethnic […]
30 September 2006
It was after 2100 when I was picked up by step-dad, Lawrence, from Changi Airport. Roaming charges in Singapore are quite reasonable and I was able to ring him from inside the plane before disembarking, so that I didn’t have to wait too long. Back at Lawrence’s place, Mum had been out and was dropped […]
30 September 2006
The core part of this trip is to go to northern India with Kim and family, as his father was born in India. My first leg takes me to Singapore where I’ll spend some time with my Mum and take them on side-trips to Xiamen and Bintan. Kim’s parents too me to the airport for […]
3 June 2006
I arrived back into Auckland at 1000 after an adventure like no other. Not many people get to visit Yemen. I get to stay, explore, learn and make new friends. I’d like to do it again. Watch this space!