Author archive
4 June 2026
Standby fail Tonight, then plan was for Kim and I fly out to Shanghai separately to commence our big trip of the year. We chose to separately due to maximise the benefit of complex staff standby travel tickets, with me trying for China Eastern at 2100 and him trying for Air New Zealand at 2245. […]
7 March 2026
We landed in Auckland at 0755 with no queues for the biosecurity checks. With only powdered sachets and some compressed peanut blocks (pecel) captured in a photo, I was cleared to exit without an x-ray. It was a short wait for the shuttle to the carpark where we had a swift drive home as there […]
6 March 2026
Above: The pool at our sister hotel, Bintang Bali. After breakfast, I felt it was mandatory to go use the large pool at the sister hotel next door, Bali Bintang. While asking about pool towels, we were shown the shortcut across there. Kim had been walking out to the road to get there and finally […]
5 March 2026
Above: View from near our hotel. Surprisingly, the hotel buffet breakfast wasn’t great. The chicken was hacked up Asian style with lots of bones. I happily had the chicken porridge and soup instead. We went out to a nearby mall for a wander. I toyed with the idea of buying some cooking sachets to take […]
4 March 2026
My stay in Penang was short and sweet, for I leave today for Bali. The price for the Grab price was shockingly high but after a brief wait, it came down to the regular price of about one third. I had a delightful ride to the airport with an Indonesian-born driver who was half Bugis […]
3 March 2026
Above: Gurney Paragon Mall incorporates the historical St Joseph Novitiate Building. It was a much-needed lazy day starting with rehab exercises in the hotel gym, a massage, cut-throat shave then lunch. I went to the blind massage shop which I had been before but being Ramadhan, there was only one masseur there who happened to […]
2 March 2026
Above: View from the hotel rooftop pool area. The Malaysia Airlines flight left Hyderabad a little earlier than the scheduled time of 0030. A meal was served soon after, followed by a bar service which included spirits and wine that were absent during the meal. We landed into Kuala Lumpur 20 mins early and I […]
1 March 2026
Above: World class Hyderabad Airport’s departure area. I fly out to Malaysia after midnight tonight (technically tomorrow morning) and have the day to kill. I have paid to use the room till 1930 today. After breakfast, I took the metro one stop north, with the intention to visit a big pharmacy where I hope to […]
28 February 2026
Hotel hassles I told the hotel to hold the idli for breakfast this morning and just give me the thosai; otherwise, it would be too much. After breakfast, I sorted out my stay for tomorrow night when I had a booking made through trip.com for the purpose of a late check-out. The hotel told me […]
27 February 2026
Charminar and Makkah Mosque The hotel breakfast, starting at 0700, consisted of the very South Indian thosai and idli, plus accompaniments. I headed out by auto-rickshaw to the Charminar (literally four minarets) in the centre of town where I caught, by pure chance, not one celebration but two! The Charminar monument has become the symbol […]