Articles from this Category
18 March 2024
Arriving and transit in Haikou We arrived 15 mins ahead of the scheduled time of 0500 into Haikou. Immigration didn’t take too long and we were in the quiet landside area around 0530. I had a note in Google Translate explaining to the immigration officer that I needed the 15 day “All China” visa […]
25 January 2024
Above: Flight path after being struck by lightning. I had trouble getting to sleep last night and had to wake around 0600 to prepare for the 1030 flight. The included breakfast at 0615 looked amazing. However, quite a few things didn’t pass the taste test. The chicken was hacked Asian style with lots of bones […]
24 January 2024
Above: Tune Hotel lobby at KL International Airport. Today, I only have to make my way to Kuala Lumpur International Airport for a nightstop for my journey back to Auckland via Singapore tomorrow. I started my search for the way to the cable car more or less immediately. Some 20 mins later, I had found […]
23 January 2024
Killing some time Just for a change, instead of staying in Kuala Lumpur any longer, I had booked to go to Genting Highlands instead for a one-night stay. I had been perhaps 27 years ago in May 1997, that being my first and only visit. There’s no point getting there too early due to the […]
22 January 2024
Flying to KL I had trouble falling asleep last night with a sense of bloatedness. And I had to get up in the middle of night, emptying my belly completely but it wasn’t liquid and was a one-off. I don’t think it was diarrhoea but perhaps the oily pad see ew I had for lunch […]
21 January 2024
I had three full days in Bangkok including today. After such an amazing but busy time in Saudi, I had run out of steam and interest. I was wary that my time here would be wasted unless I tweaked my attitude. I had limited success shifting my attitude. I got out and about in my […]
18 January 2024
Another dream standby flight My Thai Airways B777-200 pulled up at the gate 5 mins before our schedule departure time. Boarding took place without passport checks. We departed about an hour late but it was otherwise an awesome flight with only around 50 passengers. I had three seats on which I was horizontal for 6h […]
17 January 2024
Killing the day I had spent yesterday entirely indoors on the computer and at the hotel gym, only stepping outside to get a meal. My only human interaction in spoken words was calling home to Kim and also a friend. Tonight, I have a flight after midnight but realised that the 1200 check-out isn’t true. […]
15 January 2024
Saying goodbye E leaves today for Riyadh for some time with friends before returning home. We ate the buffet breakfast together early before I ordered him a car to the airport. This trip, I’ve been lucky to have found three great travel companions: first the two schoolfriends while in Japan and E in Saudi. E […]
14 January 2024
After several hours out in the car outside of Jeddah, we returned to the hotel to use hotel’s pool and sauna facility. It was a waste of time as the former was cold and the latter lukewarm. The showers were cold too. We gave up pretty quickly to chill in the room instead. Returning the […]