 Singapore to Rome |  Flying over Iran |
Monday, January 30, 2006
Singapore to Rome - 29Jan2006
13 hours, 20 minutes and 7 timezones... that's what it takes to get from Singapore to Rome. Our flight plan took us across the Indian Ocean and over Iran. I thought we might skirt Iraq, but we stayed just over the border and then over Turkey and Greece. I was able to watch Dukes of Hazzard and most of Cool Hand Luke on my flight.
Monday, January 23, 2006
From Okinawa to Signapore - 22Jan2006
A lot has gone on since my last post. In two weeks, I've flown about 7000 miles. After a week in Okinawa, I left for Singapore on 21 Jan. I learned that China Air is definitely not my favorite airline. When I checked in at the airport in Okinawa, they told me that my bags could only weigh a total of 20 kg (45 lbs). This limit wasn't per piece, it was a total. After going around and around, I finally convinced a supervisor to allow my checked bags. She said because I was continuing on to the US I could use the US limits of 20 kg per piece. Next, they wanted me to check my computer bag because it weighed more than 7 kg. Apparently the limit is about 15 lbs per item for each carry-on. I tried to empty the heavy stuff out but even empty, it was 9 kg. Again, I had to get the supervisor to sign off that it was okay to take my bags on the plane. At this point, I'm expecting to get on a rickety plane with a bunch of goats and chickens. As it turned out, the plane was a fairly new Boeing 757. I got to Tai Pei and had a couple of hours to wander the airport. I didn't have any Chinese money and there wasn't a cash machine or money exchange to be found so I couldn't even buy a soda, which cost 30 tai dollars. I finally got on the next plane which turned out to be a brand new Airbus 330. The entertainment system had about 60 movies and 300 CD choices. It turned out to be a nice flight...The food (an unidentifiable substance labeled “chikin”) was horrible, but the flight was nice. I was able to watch a couple of movies and stretch out... the plane itself was only about 1/4 full, so they shouldn’t have had any issue with the weight of my bags.
Anyway, once I reached Singapore, I checked back into the Hilton. I then met up with Trey and Neetu who had been in Singapore for 3 weeks. We walked over to the Hard Rock Café, which was right next to the hotel, and got some food. The CHICKEN sandwich I had was much better than whatever they gave me on the flight. I spent the week in Singapore helping out wherever I could. We had a meeting at the end of the week that we had to prepare for. Outside of work, I managed to get some shopping done and took a day to visit Sentosa.
On Sunday (22 Jan), Neetu, Trey, and I took a trip to Sentosa. We learned that Sentosa is basically a tourist trap on a tropical island just south of the Singapore main island. We took the cable car into Sentosa. The cable cars are about 200 feet off the ground. To get to them, you take an elevator to the 15th floor of a building. The picture below is just as we were coming out of the building… the tower in the distance is at least 200 feet tall. Not for ANYONE afraid of heights!! Once we arrived on the island, we took a tour over to the aquarium (known as Underwater World.) They have a collection of crabs from all around the world. It’s pretty neat. The picture below is of a Giant Japanese Spider Crab. They get to be about 7 feet across… I’m sure they taste good with some butter! For lunch, we ate some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream on the beach near the aquarium, then hopped back on the tour bus. It took us over to a place called Cinerama. They described it as a motion ride like from Universal Studios or Disneyland. It turns out to be a rather less interesting, bumpy, vomit inducing experience. We decided that part of the tour was a waste of money for sure. After our near motion sickness ride, we walked around and took some pictures of the orchids and sites. At one point, Trey noticed that there were some monkeys in one of the trees. As I was taking a picture of the mama and the baby, Trey noticed that the papa and another mama were working on another baby. It was definitely like something you’d see on the discovery channel!!
After our eventful day in Sentosa, Neetu and I dragged Trey to one of our favorite Indian restaurants (Mumtaz Muhal). If you ever make it to Singapore, I recommend finding this place. It is in the Far East Plaza off of Scott’s Road… it is on the top floor. They have the best cauliflower I’ve ever eaten. This says a lot since I can’t stand cauliflower. Something about a pale version of broccoli never appealed to me. Anyway, Trey agreed that all of the food was great (he’d never actually had Indian food). The fact that the food was good helped and I’m sure the Kingfisher Strong beer he drank helped.
The last day in Singapore was spent trying to figure out what to do with all of our time. Neetu left on Friday and Trey and I were scheduled to leave Sunday at 1:00a. We spent part of Saturday morning doing some last minute shopping and then checked out of the hotel at about 4:00p. We had 9 hours to kill before our flight left. We managed to hang around the Hilton lounge for a few hours, then headed out to get some dinner. We went all the way over to Boat Quay just to find out that everything had closed at about 6:00p. We wandered around for a while, then headed back to the Hard Rock Café (next to Hilton) and got dinner. We left for the airport around 10:30p so that we could get there and spend over an hour in the lounge watching soccer. We finally boarded the plane after midnight and headed for Rome.
My rating of Singapore is a 9.5. The city is clean, orderly, and everyone is friendly (it’s illegal not to be!) The humidity makes it a little sticky (like DC in the summer) but the weather is generally agreeable. The original description still seems to apply (it’s like New York if it were built on a tropical island by Walk Disney). I highly recommend a few restaurants if you make it there:
Anyway, once I reached Singapore, I checked back into the Hilton. I then met up with Trey and Neetu who had been in Singapore for 3 weeks. We walked over to the Hard Rock Café, which was right next to the hotel, and got some food. The CHICKEN sandwich I had was much better than whatever they gave me on the flight. I spent the week in Singapore helping out wherever I could. We had a meeting at the end of the week that we had to prepare for. Outside of work, I managed to get some shopping done and took a day to visit Sentosa.
On Sunday (22 Jan), Neetu, Trey, and I took a trip to Sentosa. We learned that Sentosa is basically a tourist trap on a tropical island just south of the Singapore main island. We took the cable car into Sentosa. The cable cars are about 200 feet off the ground. To get to them, you take an elevator to the 15th floor of a building. The picture below is just as we were coming out of the building… the tower in the distance is at least 200 feet tall. Not for ANYONE afraid of heights!! Once we arrived on the island, we took a tour over to the aquarium (known as Underwater World.) They have a collection of crabs from all around the world. It’s pretty neat. The picture below is of a Giant Japanese Spider Crab. They get to be about 7 feet across… I’m sure they taste good with some butter! For lunch, we ate some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream on the beach near the aquarium, then hopped back on the tour bus. It took us over to a place called Cinerama. They described it as a motion ride like from Universal Studios or Disneyland. It turns out to be a rather less interesting, bumpy, vomit inducing experience. We decided that part of the tour was a waste of money for sure. After our near motion sickness ride, we walked around and took some pictures of the orchids and sites. At one point, Trey noticed that there were some monkeys in one of the trees. As I was taking a picture of the mama and the baby, Trey noticed that the papa and another mama were working on another baby. It was definitely like something you’d see on the discovery channel!!
After our eventful day in Sentosa, Neetu and I dragged Trey to one of our favorite Indian restaurants (Mumtaz Muhal). If you ever make it to Singapore, I recommend finding this place. It is in the Far East Plaza off of Scott’s Road… it is on the top floor. They have the best cauliflower I’ve ever eaten. This says a lot since I can’t stand cauliflower. Something about a pale version of broccoli never appealed to me. Anyway, Trey agreed that all of the food was great (he’d never actually had Indian food). The fact that the food was good helped and I’m sure the Kingfisher Strong beer he drank helped.
The last day in Singapore was spent trying to figure out what to do with all of our time. Neetu left on Friday and Trey and I were scheduled to leave Sunday at 1:00a. We spent part of Saturday morning doing some last minute shopping and then checked out of the hotel at about 4:00p. We had 9 hours to kill before our flight left. We managed to hang around the Hilton lounge for a few hours, then headed out to get some dinner. We went all the way over to Boat Quay just to find out that everything had closed at about 6:00p. We wandered around for a while, then headed back to the Hard Rock Café (next to Hilton) and got dinner. We left for the airport around 10:30p so that we could get there and spend over an hour in the lounge watching soccer. We finally boarded the plane after midnight and headed for Rome.
My rating of Singapore is a 9.5. The city is clean, orderly, and everyone is friendly (it’s illegal not to be!) The humidity makes it a little sticky (like DC in the summer) but the weather is generally agreeable. The original description still seems to apply (it’s like New York if it were built on a tropical island by Walk Disney). I highly recommend a few restaurants if you make it there:
- Indian food: Mumtaz Muhal
- Seafood: Jumbo’s at Clark Quay
- and my favorite… Terror Club (where we had to eat lunch almost every day!
 Sentosa Cable Car |  Giant Crabs |
 The monkey's of Sentosa |  Merlion at Sentosa |
 Sentosa Orchids |
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Around the world in 40 days Jan-Feb 2006
(acutally posted 08Feb but put in order for dates) I'm sitting here at a strange Italian keyboard in Naples (it took me about 2 minutes to find the apostrophe.) I left Colorado Springs on Jan 3rd and headed for Dallas... from there I flew to Tokyo Narita Airport. I then took the train to Yokosuka where I spent about 2 weeks. I then took the train from there up to Tokyo Haneda Airport and flew to Okinawa. I spent 7 days in Okinawa, then flew to Singapore by way of Tai Pei. I spent 7 days running around the humid city/country of Singapore and then flew directly to Rome. The train from Rome to Naples took about 2 1/2 hours. I've been in Naples for just about 10 days now... it is a very interesting place. On Friday, I will take the train up to Rome where I will spend the day Saturday seeing the sights before flying home early Sunday morning. I will be flying Delta, so it's anybody's guess as to when I will actually arrive home! In the meantime, I am working on posts for each of the previous few weeks where I will update the interesting things I've seen... and the good food I've eaten. Until then, just know that I'm working hard and enjoying the foods and sights of southern Italy...
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Singapore at Night - Dec 2005
This is old news to some, but I never did post more pictures of Singapore. Below are several night pictures in the Clark Quay and Boat Quay areas. We had walked down there for dinner and ended up walking for almost an hour trying to find our way back to the hotel. Matt knew where he was going... the rest of us were lost.
 Singapore Bridges |  Giant "Hokie Bird" |
 Cityscape at Night |  Singapore Celebrates Christmas |
Strange Menu at Chili's
I had lunch today at Chili's and saw this menu... anybody else read it as I did? Kinda like that TV show pyramid. "Things that make you go" beer, hot wings, nachos, etc. Anyway, felt I needed to share :)
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Arrived in Okinawa - 15 Jan 2006
Heard the redskins lost... oh well.
Continuing in the amazing race, another team has split off and has headed to Okinawa! We now have teams in Yokosuka and Okinawa, Japan, and in Singapore! This morning, the Okinawa team, Matt, Katrina, Don, Phil, and Steve, set off from Yokosuka. They traveled by mini-van to the train station where they took a guess and jumped on a train. After 20 minutes and 6 stops, they had gone about 1/6 of the way to the airport. Fortunately they were able to make use (by accident) of a fast forward. At the 6th stop, the train connected to an express. It took them to the 90% mark in about 20 minutes. They managed to get to the airport with plenty of time to eat a light lunch and get to the gate for a 3:00 departure. They arrived into Okinawa at about 5:45p. It was humid and warm in the airport... turns out to be perfect weather to grow orchids. They had THOUSANDS of them all over the place. From there, they took a cab to the hotel... the Grand Mer Okinawa. After about 50 minutes in a cab (3 people shoulder to shoulder in the back seat), they arrived at the hotel. The hotel itself sits up high on a hill overlooking large portions of the island... Given the name, it is likely that you can see the sea :)
The weather is perfect... it's about 65 degrees in the evenings and is supposed to be in the 70's during the day. The waters are supposed to be tropical... as in Caribbean blue!! The diving is supposed to be really good here, so I might have to come back when the water is warmer and see for myself. Anyway, the room at the hotel is about 3 times the size... make that 5 times the size of the tiny rooms in Yokosuka. I have a huge (by comparison) queen sized bed, small kitchen area, and room to actually put my luggage on the floor. By the way, my room this past stay in Yoko was the smallest they offer... I had about 2 ft between the bed and walls. The desk was pretty small and I had to step over my luggage to get to it. What a pain! Anyway, I don't have that problem here... also the room is about $65/night here vs.. the $125/night I was paying in Yoko... and the rooms don't smell like an ash tray. So, things are better here
That's about it from here!
Orchids of Okinawa
Continuing in the amazing race, another team has split off and has headed to Okinawa! We now have teams in Yokosuka and Okinawa, Japan, and in Singapore! This morning, the Okinawa team, Matt, Katrina, Don, Phil, and Steve, set off from Yokosuka. They traveled by mini-van to the train station where they took a guess and jumped on a train. After 20 minutes and 6 stops, they had gone about 1/6 of the way to the airport. Fortunately they were able to make use (by accident) of a fast forward. At the 6th stop, the train connected to an express. It took them to the 90% mark in about 20 minutes. They managed to get to the airport with plenty of time to eat a light lunch and get to the gate for a 3:00 departure. They arrived into Okinawa at about 5:45p. It was humid and warm in the airport... turns out to be perfect weather to grow orchids. They had THOUSANDS of them all over the place. From there, they took a cab to the hotel... the Grand Mer Okinawa. After about 50 minutes in a cab (3 people shoulder to shoulder in the back seat), they arrived at the hotel. The hotel itself sits up high on a hill overlooking large portions of the island... Given the name, it is likely that you can see the sea :)
The weather is perfect... it's about 65 degrees in the evenings and is supposed to be in the 70's during the day. The waters are supposed to be tropical... as in Caribbean blue!! The diving is supposed to be really good here, so I might have to come back when the water is warmer and see for myself. Anyway, the room at the hotel is about 3 times the size... make that 5 times the size of the tiny rooms in Yokosuka. I have a huge (by comparison) queen sized bed, small kitchen area, and room to actually put my luggage on the floor. By the way, my room this past stay in Yoko was the smallest they offer... I had about 2 ft between the bed and walls. The desk was pretty small and I had to step over my luggage to get to it. What a pain! Anyway, I don't have that problem here... also the room is about $65/night here vs.. the $125/night I was paying in Yoko... and the rooms don't smell like an ash tray. So, things are better here
That's about it from here!
Orchids of Okinawa
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Around the world in 40 days!! Start - 03-14 Jan 2006
As the new year starts, I am continuing in the Amazing Race. I am truely on a "race around the world." On January 3rd, I left Colorado Springs. I flew to Dallas, TX, then to Narita, Japan. I will spend two weeks there in Yokosuka, then fly to Okinawa. From there, I will fly to Singapore by way of Tai Pei, Taiwan. After a week in Singapore, I will fly to Rome. After about two weeks in Naples, I will complete the trip around the world! The "race" is whether I can been Neetu... she is flying around the world at the same time, only in the opposite direction. She flew from DC to Newark, then to Singapore direct. I believe her return is Singapore to Korea then back to DC.
The first week in Japan was about the same as always... lots of work. As was tradition, we took the new team members to a resturant that we call "Cook Yourself". It is a place where they bring a bucket of hot coals to the table and you cook your own food... the trick is not to actually get cooked in the process. The place is about 9000 degrees most of the time. On Saturday (6th), we took the new team members up to Kamakura and introducted them to the great buddah. Our new team members include Ahmed (who is trying to learn 1000 more Japanese characters so he can be "literate"), Katrina (a good friend of Gina from England), Brooke (a recent McLean to San Francisco transplant), and Marcel (a former Air Force guy from Hawaii that can bench press a bus!) They are all getting used to the fun of Japan and are quickly getting up to speed.
One place that I'd eaten dessert before but never took a picture of was called "Ducky Duck." I liked the name and Ahmed wanted a picture... so, here it is! Also below is a picture from Yokosuka. We were walking to dinner one night and I saw this tower so I grabbed a quick picture with my phone. For those of you that missed it in action at Christmas, I bought a new phone in Singapore. It's the Nokia 6680. It is full of cool features... it has 2 cameras (of good quality), built in tools for office functions, and even software to remote control your computer for presentations. It's been a lot of fun! In fact, it also comes with blogger software... which I need to set up.
Well, I think that's about it for Yokosuka. I'm off to Okinawa in the morning!
The first week in Japan was about the same as always... lots of work. As was tradition, we took the new team members to a resturant that we call "Cook Yourself". It is a place where they bring a bucket of hot coals to the table and you cook your own food... the trick is not to actually get cooked in the process. The place is about 9000 degrees most of the time. On Saturday (6th), we took the new team members up to Kamakura and introducted them to the great buddah. Our new team members include Ahmed (who is trying to learn 1000 more Japanese characters so he can be "literate"), Katrina (a good friend of Gina from England), Brooke (a recent McLean to San Francisco transplant), and Marcel (a former Air Force guy from Hawaii that can bench press a bus!) They are all getting used to the fun of Japan and are quickly getting up to speed.
One place that I'd eaten dessert before but never took a picture of was called "Ducky Duck." I liked the name and Ahmed wanted a picture... so, here it is! Also below is a picture from Yokosuka. We were walking to dinner one night and I saw this tower so I grabbed a quick picture with my phone. For those of you that missed it in action at Christmas, I bought a new phone in Singapore. It's the Nokia 6680. It is full of cool features... it has 2 cameras (of good quality), built in tools for office functions, and even software to remote control your computer for presentations. It's been a lot of fun! In fact, it also comes with blogger software... which I need to set up.
Well, I think that's about it for Yokosuka. I'm off to Okinawa in the morning!
 Back to Japan |  Another trip to Kamakura |
 Choice Location for Dessert... |  Tower in Yokosuka |
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Christmas 2005
So, this post is a little late... I had a couple of pictures from the flight into Reagan and some nice pictures of Anna from Christmas. I figured I should share them and just never go around to it. Anyway, below are two of my favorites.
Athena and I flew to DC on the 22nd... I was sick and still feeling jet lag from flying back from Singapore (which took about 27 hours). I left the Hilton in Singapore at about 4:30a and arrived back home at about 4:30p (same day). The difference between the two places is 15 hours. Anyway, being back "home" for a few days was good... I slept a lot and was feeling better by Christmas. Athena and I flew home on the 27th and had a few days rest (and the huge steak below). I took off again for Japan on January 3rd. More on that later...
Athena and I flew to DC on the 22nd... I was sick and still feeling jet lag from flying back from Singapore (which took about 27 hours). I left the Hilton in Singapore at about 4:30a and arrived back home at about 4:30p (same day). The difference between the two places is 15 hours. Anyway, being back "home" for a few days was good... I slept a lot and was feeling better by Christmas. Athena and I flew home on the 27th and had a few days rest (and the huge steak below). I took off again for Japan on January 3rd. More on that later...
 Washington DC from the air |  Anna's First Christmas (her daddy's a freak) |
Monday, January 02, 2006
Holy COW!!!
Happy New Year!! Russ and I kicked off the new year by trying to eat a cow! We each had the prime rib "special" at The Famous in Colorado Springs. They described it as a 24 oz prime rib. As you can see, it probably was on the order of at least 2 1/2 pounds! My leftovers weighed in at just over 2 lbs. The meal included a nice salad (1/2 head of lettuce). YUMMMMMMMY!!! The girls ate filet mignon... Athena's was a mear 14 ounces! She ate about 1/3 of it and had the rest for lunch today. Well, I'm off to Japan tomorrow morning! Later!!!
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