One of the more well known island resorts in Thailand, Koh Samui indulges you in sandy white beachs and sun soaked days. This is probably one of the more popular island get-aways in the past, but now that the other islands in Thailand are getting on in popularity, Koh Samui isn’t so much on the radar screen of purist beach goers anymore. We visited in 2007 to enjoy the beaches, and also to see how the place was since we kept hearing so much about it then. Continue reading “Koh Samui”
The whole world seemed to be in a frenzy for last night’s total lunar eclipse on 8 October 2014. It was the last lunar eclipse for 2014 and the next one will be on 4 April 2015. Luckily for me, I was in Changi at the time and found a high spot overlooking the eastern horizon to wait for moon rise. Unfortunately, our neighbours in Indonesia decided to have a bonfire in their backyards and the haze from forest fires started blowing into Singapore towards the evening. Continue reading “Night of the Blood Moon”
With the recent media circus going on last weekend in Venice for George Cluny’s wedding, I thought it would be a good time to blog about Venice. Although I’ve been there quite a long time ago in 1997, it was really nice to see my old photos and how Venice looked like before all the crazy fans and paparazzi invaded the place.
Venice is actually a city built on several islands inside the Venetian Lagoon. Venice is renowned for it beauty and architecture. From Shakespeare’s play, Merchant of Venice, and featured in countless movies and novels, Venice has timeless appeal. Continue reading “Venice”
My first trip to China was in 1998 for business and it was also my first time to Shanghai. I arrived from Beijing on a domestic flight to Hongqiao Airport. This airport served both international and domestic flights back then. Pudong International Airport was just a long term plan then, and Pudong was still mainly a backwater but with a lot of new construction projects coming up. The in-place to be was Puxi, and The Bund (外滩) was where most people hung out. The Bund is synonymous with Shanghai and is very much a part of the history of the city. Continue reading “The Bund, Shanghai – A Blast from the Past”
Well folks, its F1 week again in Singapore and our downtown roads have been turned into a street race circuit. You will find the race area looking every bit like a high security prison with the concrete barriers and high steel wire fences. But there are no hardcore prisoners in overalls here, just hardcore speed junkies from all over the world getting together for an adrenaline fueled weekend. After having been to two of the F1 races in 2010 and 2011, I’ve decided to watch it from home in the comfort of my sofa. For tonight’s race, Lewis Hamilton takes the pole and we will see if he can maintain his lead. Continue reading “F1 Weekend Again”
What do you see when you look at the end of a Toblerone chocolate wrapper? If you guessed a mountain then you are correct. This is the Matterhorn, a famous mountain in Switzerland which reaches a height of 4,478m. In 1998 I was in Switzerland for technical training and together with a group of colleagues who were there for various other reasons, we decided to spend the weekend in Zermatt, the ski resort for the rich and famous. Well, we weren’t rich and famous but that didn’t stop us from trying. Continue reading “Zermatt”
This is the quintessential fairy tale castle that comes to every child’s imagination. Located in southern Germany near the town of Füssen, the castle was built in 1892 by King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The castle was also the inspiration for Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle (which explains why all kids associate fairy tale castles with this), and Michael Jackson offered to buy it so that he could dismantle and rebuild the castle in his Neverland ranch. I finally got a chance to visit this castle in 1996 and relive the childhood fantasy within me when I was in Regensburg, Germany for a training visit. My German colleague drove and it took us 3-4 hrs to drive from Regensburg to Füssen. Continue reading “Neuschwanstein Castle”
I came to Kaoshiung to visit a customer’s factory in 2012. This was my second time visiting Taiwan’s southern most city. My first time to Kaoshiung was actually more than 20 years ago when I was doing my National Service and we had our R&R in the city. With the completion of the High Speed Rail (HSR) line, it only takes 1.5 hrs by bullet train from Taoyuan to Kaoshiung. Previously, travellers would have to take a long distance bus or domestic flight. Continue reading “Liuhe Night Market (六合夜市), Kaoshiung”
My visit to Qinghai Lake was part of my Tibet tour, but Qinghai Lake deserves it’s own blog post. This is the largest lake in China and is situated high in the Tibetan plateau at 3,205m above sea level. Although it’s part of Tibet, it’s not in the Tibet Autonomous Region so you don’t need a travel permit to visit this place. Qinghai Lake is not just the largest lake in China, but it is also a salt water lake. Continue reading “Qinghai Lake”
In 2010, the governments of Singapore and Malaysia finally agreed on a settlement to move the Malaysian train station from Keppel to Woodlands. In exchange for the land that the railway line sits on, the Malaysian government will be given some land in Marina South to be jointly developed with Singapore’s government. After this, the trains finally stopped running into Singapore and there was a nostalgic rush to see the railway tracks before they were dismantled. Continue reading “Green Corridor (Former KTM Railway Tracks)”
Beyond the Little Red Dot 