When I am done soaking up the quiet, I like to venture into the crowds and listen to the conversations of the local. It is my little way to taste the life of what it can be. Of what it might have been, perhaps. Then when I get lost in the massive underground train system or be rejected by cab drivers who do not like reading maps, I will just pretend to be a contestant in the amazing race.

Of sensing and relaxing; busy night street / sedated lounge

Stuff from random shopping in Seoul and Taipei; lego pendants / earphone winder / pencil case

The convenient location is ideal for transit travellers or those who need to stay close to the airport. You can reach the JR and local train stations in 5 minutes on foot, and the trains will bring you to Osaka downtown in 40 minutes. Oh from the guests I saw in the lobby, it is also a hit with tourists who wish to visit the Rinku Premium Factory Outlet. The free shuttle (with a gorgeous seaview on-route) helps!

Back to the accommodation.

Room is modestly appointed with a good sized bed for one. View is calm. Internet connection is a breeze. BBC World is the only English channel. Bathroom is stocked and underwhelming-ly decorated with a single stalk of plastic lily. Space is tight but overall rather comfortable. If I must have one complaint, the key card is printed with the name of the hotel and room number. Not much for security.

Then the colleagues warned me about the (lack of) food. If only they know how addicted I am to Japanese cuisine. The airport has plenty of choices and the restaurant in the hotel, Hanazato, serves up decent dishes too.

Sigh, I’ve got to stop talking about food.

Yup.

Then I saw this in Osaka. It must be the norm in that part of town. Almost every child (those who wish to put their feet up) will remove their shoes without being told/asked. It is a small thing, perhaps to most people. But it certainly can be done.

Ever been shoved and literally pressed against a stranger’s back? At least in Singapore, you are not expected to go cheek-to-cheek even during peak hours. Tokyo metro is crazy as it is, the morning rush is something I can do without. I must apologise to the people who had to put up with my laptop-backpack. I never do have the chance to put it down or up!

So before anyone decides to berate Singaporeans and their ugliness while on their way to work, one should realise that such behaviour is not unique. Clustering at the doors is your best bet to getting off at the right stop, and not the one after.

Being a bore, I tend to dine in the same restaurants when I am overseas. In Shanghai, it will be Kazumi at Renaissance Yangtze.

It may not have the best of best sliced seafood or fine dining delicacies, the entire team always make it a point to make my visit most enjoyable. The staff is friendly but not intrusive. The thick sashimi is served cool and the cooked food is always hot. The head chef will replace what I don’t eat with my favourites. When I am alone, they will provide fresh reading material. Don’t be mistaken – I am not a big spender. A plate of sashimi and a piece of grilled cod do not really cover the night’s paycheck. When the folks are proud of what they do, they do it well.

Lucy, I can eat at least another portion of the below set!

Single portion of sashimi combo

One of the staff thought I should try one of the signature rolls. It was alright. Big portion but I am not a fan of fried shrimp (anymore). Too bad I don’t have a picture of the beautiful cod.

Kazumi signature shrimp roll

Looking forward to the next Japanese meal.

I woke up this morning to an actual dark foggy day. As soon as I began blaming the drizzle for the low visibility of the World Expo site from the Lupu bridge, we were stopped by guards along the quiet road. The grand locale is not available for commoners yet. I had been fooled by the hotel information booklet. Quite silly, now that I think about it. So the cab headed back to the hotel. He was kind to crawl on the bridge for me to peek and check out the pavillions. Through the damp window pane, they look lonely.

In the departure lounge surrounded by folks in warm lined coats with a horizonless view of the runway, one will never guess this is April in Shanghai.

Vast and grey @ Pudong International Airport

Ground handlers @ Pudong Int'l Airport

Ready to board.

Beijing cleaned up for the Olympics. Singapore put up prettier Christmas lights for APEC. If Bangkok has changed because of some event, I am very happy that whatever-that-is has taken place here.

I commented one night that this city is full of Manhattan-like lights. Then I was reminded that this is really the city of smiles. Yes indeed. It has even rubbed off on the usually stoic customs officers. Not just in the official airport where they are probably contractually binded to smile at tourists, even the tireless ones in the free trade zones are surprisingly nice.

I may actually be ready to return for a touristy visit soon. But right now, I just want a confirmed flight home.

But it is afterall the season for flu. With the alert on H1N1, it won’t be an overseas trip if there is no heightened health checks. I was actually surprised not to see masked super-serious-officers behind the desks. It is one thing to scrutinise the declaration forms, it is another to ask passengers to queue amongst hundreds of people in an overcrowded and poorly ventilated area for 45mins. It cannot be healthy. If the carrier sneezes carelessly, it would be santa-in-disneyland for the virus!

Plus it does not help when you overhear, “Have we sent the 2 persons to the hospital?”

Spent nine days soaking up the weather, culture, food, and most importantly the amazing views that only nature can orchestrate.

During one of the legs, I decided that I want to take a road trip in a train. Through the plains of mountains and paddy fields, it calms me in ways I did not know is possible.

Like most people (even if they deny it), I do not fancy the mannerisms of the Chinese road users. I used to take more than 20mins to cross 2 streets. I hang on to the seat belt with both hands because it cannot be fastened. Cab drivers in China will actually make one miss our Comfort cabbies. 2 days ago, on my 7th visit, I was told off by a cab driver for boarding his cab. He had just turned in to drop off a hotel guest. Apparently if you are in the hotel taxi stand, you should only take cabs that are in the queue. To my defense, I was ushered into the error by the hotel staff. With a sigh, “It is not right. They have been waiting.” His eyes were still on the queue behind us. I felt an instant guilt and surprisingly proud of him. Shanghai has always been my favourite city in China, it is just getting better.

2 blocks later, he came so close to a car in the next lane that I could actually count the number of fries in the lady’s lap.

Sidetrack – The whole Beijing city smells of antiseptic solution. Taking ‘cleaning up’ a little too far?

Source: http://www.singaporeexpats.com/forum/ ftopic7025-0-asc-17880.html

So you want to be a flight attendant?

Go to a resale store and find an old, navy suit that an army sergeant might have worn. Add a white shirt and a tie. Wear that same outfit for three consecutive days.

Go to an airport and watch airplanes take off for several hours. Pretend you are standing by for them and they are all full. Go home. Return to the airport the very next day and do the same thing again.

Fill several large boxes with rocks. Lift them over your head and place them on the top shelf of a closet. Slam the door shut until the boxes fit. Do this until you feel a disc slip in your back.

Turn on a radio. Be sure to set it between stations so there is plenty of static. Turn on the vacuum cleaner and garbage disposal. Run them all night.

Remove the covers from several T.V entrees. Place them in a hot oven. Leave the food in the oven until it’s completely dried out. Remove the hot trays with your bare hands. Serve to your family. Don’t include anything for yourself. Serve your family a beverage one hour after they’ve received their meal. Make them remain in their seats during this time.

Ask them to scream at you and complain about the service. Scrounge uneaten rolls off the plates for you to eat 6 hours later when you’re really hungry. Place a straight-backed chair in a closet facing a blank wall. Use a belt to strap yourself into it. Eat the rolls you saved from your family’s meal.

Ask your family to use the bathroom as frequently as possible. Tell them to remove their shoes and socks before entering, and see who can make the most disgusting mess. Clean the bathroom every hour throughout the night.

Make a narrow aisle between several dining room chairs and randomly scatter your husband’s runners and loafers along the way. Turn off the lights and spend the night walking up and down the aisle while banging your shins against the chair legs and tripping over the shoes. Drink several cups of cold coffee to keep yourself awake.

Gently wake your family in the morning and serve them a muffin in a package. Don’t forget to smile and wish them a nice day when they leave for work and school.

After the family leaves, take a suitcase and go out into the yard. If it’s not raining, turn on the sprinkler system and stand in the cold for 30 minutes pretending like your waiting for the crew bus to pick you up. Then go inside and wait by your bedroom door for another 30 minutes for an imaginary maid to make up your room.

Change into street clothes and shop for 5 hours. Pick up carry-outfood from a local deli. Go back home. Sit on your bed and eat your meal. Set your alarm clock for 03:00 am so you’ll be ready incase you don’t get your wake up call. Repeat the above schedule for three days in a row and you’ll be ready to work your first international flight.

REASONS NOT TO BE A FLIGHT ATTENDANT!

1. Spend half the year at home bored because all your friends are at work, it’s a weekday!

2. Experience the dread of being stuck in the airport waiting to get on a flight with a standby ticket. Your family/friends/random people you met in the street will harass you to book them cheap tickets for their holidays.

3.Get a lucrative benefits package including healthcare and life insurance (for the severe damage that pressure chang/atmospheric radiation does to your body), employee stock options (your companys way of saying “we go down ur coming with us”).

4. Enjoy the unmatched variety of being on standby and not knowing where your going to be going tomorrow at 6am.

5.Get use to maximum flexibility – You’re never going to get another weekend off with the rest of the world.

6. Meet some real stuk up assholes, including many celebrities.

7. See the world then get terribly blaze about it i.e. “God not a nighstop new york again”.

8. Feel more independant, so you aren’t scared to shout at crewing when they call you in the middle of the night.

9. Feel more responsible so you dread the thought that if the idiot who’s currently waiting for the toilet while we’re in turbulence kills him, you need to revive him.

10. Feel a sense of shame and embarrassment when you get to your destination and the groundstaff totally lets you down (especially when theyre not ready for an unacompanied minor or disabled passenger).

11. Your friends will hate you for making them jealous of all the places you’ve been and will eventually stop taking your calls. You will end up not having anymore friends.

Note to self: Humming Jay Chou’s Qing Hua Ci can really screw with your thought-process. Such obscure lyrics, such haunting melody.

Fortunately the pictures and videos are fantastic, though am disappointed that I had succumbed to laziness and did not take more.

Miss the fresh air, the spectacular views, the blue blue sky and most importantly, the company. Thanks guys, like it or not, will be back.

For those who are secretly like me, have fun checking out the good, bad, and ugly ones. Only drawback of the site – does not tell you when you will find yourself sitting next to someone who, at 39,000ft, will decide that she absolutely has to make a phone call via her motorola razor. And when she fails to connect, she proceeds with text messaging.

Do you know the wing area is the strongest, hence making it safest to be at, but it is also where the fuel is stored? Irony rules.

Of course, no one wants to ever encounter what they have shown in the shows. But I cannot contain my excitement!

In my most recent trip back to Singapore (i.e. yesterday) from China, I finally experienced my first missed approach! This is absolutely ahead of the time in Japan when the aircraft’s internal battery went dead or the time when the lady tried to use text messaging at 25,000ft. Oddly enough, I was rather smug when the pilot calmly informed the passengers about the situation as I had sensed that there was a problem when I felt the landing gear extending and retracting. At one point, it even felt jammed.

Now that I’m back on solid ground, I almost want to go back into the air. This is despite ziplocking 100ml bottles 4 times in 2 weeks.

The best part of the itinerary has to be the Duksan Spa Castle! Been pampered and now it’s so hard to adjust to the real life. Haha.

Korean’s national flower – Hibiscus Syriacus

Apparently Hong Kong Park View is an expensive place. Or at least it is in an expensive neighbourhood. The suite is impressive. The smell isn’t. The service is good. The food isn’t. Well who says we can win it all?

Hong Kong is a truly a melting pot. You can’t see 1st world and not-so-like-of-1st-world side by side in Singapore.