Articles from this Category
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 May 2006
I hate flying from west to east because it’s hard to get up in the mornings. I woke at 0700. After a momentary doze, it was 0900. There’s not much we had to do anyway, being with parents who are approaching 80 years of age. Step-dad’s relatives Jacob and Janet came to visit. Mum asked me […]
28 May 2006
I have an evening departure from Athen to Dubai tonight, connecting there to Singapore. I have most of the day to kill around Athens. Going out after breakfast, I headed to Syntagma Square to see the changing of the guards. There were lots of people. The ceremony was more elaborate than I had expected with […]
27 May 2006
My room included a continental breakfast buffet. I started my outing early to avoid the heat. It was nice and cool around 0815 when I walked up the back alley to revisit the Acropolis. But best of all, it was still quiet. There were quaint little shops in people’s homes selling souvenirs along the way. […]
26 May 2006
Today I make my way to Athens, a city I first visited 14 years ago in 1992 on my first big ambitious adventure that took me to Egypt, Greece and Turkey. George, my pension owner, took me to the ferry around 0900. The ferry arrived about 0915 for a quick turnaround. The Blue Star Paros […]