OK I have been tied up with so many things at work after taking a 2-week long break when I simply put everything (about work) on the backburner and also the Me & My Guitar series of accoustic gigs at the Esplanade concourse with so many class acts, that I did not start writing (through recollecting) on the recent 3rd China solo trip. So here goes, I literally glued my arse on a chair and start kicking off today, hopefully everything will finish before Chinese New Year's eve.
24 Dec 2008:
Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will!
How true! My big plans to start off the perfect journey was to begin with Etc's X'mas eve gig at Prince of Wales. It was supposed to be 8pm but a day before that it was changed to start at 10pm. My flight to Beijing was 1am on the 25th, so in any case I wouldn't be able to see the entire show.
My bigger problem was with the dreaded packing of my luggage, I left it to the last moment only to realise that I had too many gifts to bring over that could not possibly be packed into my Deuter backpack. By the time I settled on what to bring, what not to bring and how everything should be packed for easy carrying, it was already almost 11pm! I gave up the idea of going to Prince of Wales altogether, took a shower, got ready and drove my car straight to my office building and took a cab to the airport from there.
As I have already checked in online, everything went like clockwork at T3 and surprisingly no long queues or any big tour groups to contend with. I think to travel on the 24th of each December is a great idea! I put on my X'mas hat and head off to the duty free to get the Estee Lauder stuffs which a friend had entrusted me to get. The flight was quite sparse with many empty seats - just the way I like! See? Everything just flows! Except...missing that Etc's gig.
The movie and entertainment selections on SQ was pathetic, anyway it was a redemption ticket so no complaints! It's just that our national carrier may be losing its way with so much cost cutting and taking things for granted. Then again I couldn't care less about SQ, if I had to pay for a ticket I will never choose SQ, period! Why? After that dreaded meal I got flying back from Delhi where they serve me a western maincourse with Indian side dishes! Yucks!! And if SQ is still listening, hey! no one from SQ even bothers to reply to my website submission on this matter after more than 1o months! So you can no longer blame me for not supporting our own carrier, you are just taking Singaporeans for granted a-la-Temasek style!
I had my good ol' 1st gen iPod Shuffle (1 gig, the chewing gum one) loaded with Coldplay's Deluxe edition of Viva La Vida complete with Prospekt's March EP plus Etc's "Will Until", "Just A Dream" & "Dancing to the Smiths"; Aimee Mann's; Dido's "Quiet Times", so I am OK on this 6 hour flight....even catching a good night's sleep to boot, all fresh, recharged and ready upon arrival 7 in the morning at Beijing Capital Airport T3.
Beijing Capital Airport was a swell place, much better than our very own T3! Clearing customs was a breeze and friendly immigration staff too! First thing I did was take some photos with the X'mas deco just before customs checkpoint and also hopped by the arrival duty free to check out the Estee Lauder stuffs, it was cheaper here!
24 Dec 2008:
Murphy's Law: If anything can go wrong, it will!
How true! My big plans to start off the perfect journey was to begin with Etc's X'mas eve gig at Prince of Wales. It was supposed to be 8pm but a day before that it was changed to start at 10pm. My flight to Beijing was 1am on the 25th, so in any case I wouldn't be able to see the entire show.
My bigger problem was with the dreaded packing of my luggage, I left it to the last moment only to realise that I had too many gifts to bring over that could not possibly be packed into my Deuter backpack. By the time I settled on what to bring, what not to bring and how everything should be packed for easy carrying, it was already almost 11pm! I gave up the idea of going to Prince of Wales altogether, took a shower, got ready and drove my car straight to my office building and took a cab to the airport from there.
As I have already checked in online, everything went like clockwork at T3 and surprisingly no long queues or any big tour groups to contend with. I think to travel on the 24th of each December is a great idea! I put on my X'mas hat and head off to the duty free to get the Estee Lauder stuffs which a friend had entrusted me to get. The flight was quite sparse with many empty seats - just the way I like! See? Everything just flows! Except...missing that Etc's gig.
The movie and entertainment selections on SQ was pathetic, anyway it was a redemption ticket so no complaints! It's just that our national carrier may be losing its way with so much cost cutting and taking things for granted. Then again I couldn't care less about SQ, if I had to pay for a ticket I will never choose SQ, period! Why? After that dreaded meal I got flying back from Delhi where they serve me a western maincourse with Indian side dishes! Yucks!! And if SQ is still listening, hey! no one from SQ even bothers to reply to my website submission on this matter after more than 1o months! So you can no longer blame me for not supporting our own carrier, you are just taking Singaporeans for granted a-la-Temasek style!
I had my good ol' 1st gen iPod Shuffle (1 gig, the chewing gum one) loaded with Coldplay's Deluxe edition of Viva La Vida complete with Prospekt's March EP plus Etc's "Will Until", "Just A Dream" & "Dancing to the Smiths"; Aimee Mann's; Dido's "Quiet Times", so I am OK on this 6 hour flight....even catching a good night's sleep to boot, all fresh, recharged and ready upon arrival 7 in the morning at Beijing Capital Airport T3.
Beijing Capital Airport was a swell place, much better than our very own T3! Clearing customs was a breeze and friendly immigration staff too! First thing I did was take some photos with the X'mas deco just before customs checkpoint and also hopped by the arrival duty free to check out the Estee Lauder stuffs, it was cheaper here!
The speed at which the check-in luggage came onto the conveyor belt was unbelievable! Changi, you better watch out and you better not cry! Someone is coming to town and knock you off in no time, you smug!
Ok! down to the serious stuff, went hunting around the arrival hall to get my inland air tickets. That took some time though, there were queues at the Air China (my preferred carrier after the last Chengdu fog incident) counter. Eventually tied down tickets Beijing to Xian on the 28th, Xian to Chengdu on the 1st leaving the return journey open because I do not know how long I will be occupied at Chengdu and whether I would be joining the 2nd weekend trek, a much tougher one, on the Great Wall with these fab guys.
Having tied down the immediate week ahead, I head straight off to the eagerly-anticipated hutong hotel at 南锣鼓巷. I had the directions on my brand new HTC Touch 3G but damned the Mapking which rendered the GPS totally useless even though I had the BJ map. There is nothing more arcane to use than Mapking's unhelpful UI. No manual, no use (paraphrasing "No Woman, No Cry"...Bob Marley).
The Airport Express train was so easy to get to you would think what the hell was terminally wrong with Singapore's own MRT linking to the airport. It was straight out from the arrival hall direct to the train's gates! Changi will lose, now I am 100% certain.
The train goes straight to Dongzhimen bus station and there you could just about get to anywhere within Beijing either by public bus or subway, a point to note was the need to get your one RMB notes or coins ready for probably the cheapest (and efficient) rides anywhere on earth! To think the Singapore government keep bragging about us having the best public transport system in the whole world? Makes you cringe in shame being a Singaporean. The SG gov is not only deluding itself but letting every Singaporean knows how naive and propagandalistic they have been for so many years. How detached from the real world those mini-stars drawing exorbitant million dollars salaries doing an extremely poor job yet still boasting about how important and how well they have done their "job". This being the 牛year so there is no more bullshitting crap from you idiotic Men-in-Whites please!
And by the way, I ever shook hands with dee PM when he was visiting my constituency a short while back and I can say for sure that was the most superficial handshake I have ever come across in all my years of travelling around the world. If he is doing the same handshake to other luminaries then I think Singapore is truly fried! A simple layman in India or a driver in Tashkent could do much better than our PM, what a joke! Next time I better keep a handsoap (Dettol and nothing less) on hand just in case. OK enough of that rubbish which deserve to be flushed down the toilet bowl.
No comments:
Post a Comment