Author archive
14 June 2024
Above: Pedestrian mall in Suwon, near my hotel. Arriving at Seoul Incheon airport at 0630, I wasn’t as lucky as previous visits. It took an hour to get through immigration and exit without a bag. I’m booked to stay in Suwon, which Google Maps says is 2h away by bus. The hotel’s check-in time is […]
13 June 2024
Taking ten years off my age About 10 days short of six months, I stopped shaving just before going on my three-week trip to Saudi Arabia. Today, I had planned to have the beard taken off at the Indian barber in KL Sentral / Brickfields where I was overnighting. When I had a haircut there, […]
12 June 2024
For this visit to Kuala Lumpur, I had it on my list to visit the Islamic Arts Museum. This had come highly recommended by E, with whom I travelled around Saudi Arabia about half a year ago. I arrived at the site by train and foot, getting there a few minutes before their 0930 opening. […]
11 June 2024
My sis and bro-in-law were still in Kuching when I left today, and they kindly ran me to the airport. Actually, I drove but they drove back. Traffic was unusually heavy and the journey took an hour. Just as well we allowed plenty of time. I flew Malaysia Airlines’ 1335 flight to Kuala Lumpur with […]
4 June 2024
We arrived into Singapore around 0300, ahead of schedule. It had been an excellent flight but it got so cold that I had to put on my puffer jacket. I had taken two sleeping pills and slept most of the way, having found that one didn’t quite work. The variety that I’ve been given is […]
3 June 2024
After two days catching up with my aunt, three cousins and a friend from Yemen days separately, it was time to fly back to my hometown. I had secured a Scoot ticket for AUD200 from Melbourne to Kuching via Singapore with a 3h connection. About half of that was taxes. I had paid for a […]
31 May 2024
Arrival into Melbourne was as good as it can get. We had probably the nearest gate to the immigration hall. All formalities were so fast that I was kerbside waiting for the Skybus within 20 mins of arrival. With the 2245 scheduled arrival, I couldn’t afford any delay of more than an hour as I […]
31 May 2024
Leaving early I try not to escape from New Zealand so early in the year as the cold and wet doesn’t normally set in till later. But this year, I couldn’t wait to get away as it has been horribly wet in late May. My early departure was prompted by Air New Zealand suspending flights […]
27 March 2024
I slept around 5h30 or maybe even 6h on the flight. It was nearly empty midship and I had moved up from the aft zone to grab an entire row there. Dennis had fallen asleep upright next to me, upon take-off so I couldn’t get him to move up with me. Despite wobbles due to […]
26 March 2024
Internet connection; the enabler As my previous trip to China was 9 years ago, this is my first visit since the country went largely cashless. I came prepared and everything worked like a dream. I didn’t use any cash or my credit/debit cards for any travel-related expenses during my whole stay! An internet connection is […]