Planes, Train and Automobiles

….well a train, two buses and a speedboat anyway!!!

That was how I got to the lovely island of Sibu, Malaysia last weekend. There are a load of lawyers here from the UK on secondment, so I decided to tag along on their trip. Had the worse possible start when the 17 of us turned up to find one of the mini buses hadn’t shown…so we all piled into a 12 seater! Suffice to say I got to know 1 or 2 of them pretty well. Then, after a very long border crossing into Malaysia we were met by a second bus, but this driver was a cross between Lewis Hamilton and a 13 year old adolescent school boy. It was dark and this guy couldn’t appreciate why we wanted him to slow down going round the unlit corners. And so to prove a point he’d slow from 70mph to about 10mph…and at one point even stopped at the side of the road and turned his lights off!!! Finally we got to the resort after a fun ride on a speedboat and had a weekend of drinking, diving, eating and sleeping. Unfortunately it was the latter 2 I was best at….reckon I had seconds or thirds at every meal and got a good 16 hours sleep in total. Drinking wise I was p1ss poor compared to some of these boys and diving I had to come up 20 mins earlier than everyone else cause I had guzzled my air like I was running a marathon!!

Moved into my new place this weekend and without wanting to showoff too much, it’s pretty darn sweet. Basically, it’s like a hotel, with a 50m pool (I swam 3 lengths and was knackered….50m is a long way!!), tennis courts, state of the art gym (it looks nice, but not like I’m ever going to use it!!) Plus, the 31st floor is just a chill out floor with jacuzzis, steam room, sauna, comfy chairs etc. My actual flat is pretty nice with interesting views of the sea (which is basically just one big port of container ships) and a bathroom sink which holds less water than I could cup in my two hands. Living with a girl called Rachel who I used to work with in London and so far we’re getting on fine, but I have seen a few alarming looks as I stroll through the flat in just my boxers!!

Been playing quite a bit of footy recently. It is sooooooo tough in this heat. I came off the pitch yesterday absolutely dripping from sweat and drank no fewer than 2 bottles of water and 5 bottles of lucozade equivalent before I felt better. I scored my first goal in 11 a side since I was about 15….the last one coming from a header for Thornhill, when we beat Adamsdown 25-0!!! This one was a fluke to say the least. I picked up the ball about 10 yards in front of the half way line on the right hand side and hit a cross aiming for the edge of the area. Saw it going goal-wards and actually said to a fellow player “uh, that wasn’t a shot”…..it then proceeded to fly over the opposing keeper’s head and everyone looked at me with amazement!!

Alas, the local jewish girl I had been seeing has gone back to study in England. Still…was pretty impressed with my speed and tenacity!! On the subject of jewish, I actually went to the synagogue on Saturday for about the third time since by Bar mitzvah! Nice place and friendly people…..will probably be going back in a couple of weeks to fast and repent for all my sins!

I’ve also joined the ranks of High Society in Singapore!! A friend invited me to the Tatler Man of the Year party. Seriously not my thing, chatting c.rap to all these people who think they’re really important. But the free drink and food was right up my street!!! When they announced the winner, I actually had an inkling it could have been me…”This year’s winner is in his 20s (tick), is a self starter (maybe) and has amassed a wealth worth 9 figures (definite no…unless we’re talking 9 figures in Zimbabwean currency or something!!)…oh well, maybe next year!!

Just One Long Holiday

Hope all is well wherever you are. I’m really settling into my life here – it’s been 3 weeks and I guess at some point it’ll change, but I do feel like I’m on an extended holiday inter-mixed with a bit of work to keep me busy!!!

Work is going well. Tough to get motivated again after a lazy last few months in London. But now I don’t really have a choice! Was supposed to be in Bangkok on the weekend organising a big conference for 75 people within my new team, but got canned last minute cause of the protests, so had to stay in Singapore. Was good nonetheless and got some nice feedback, especially the places I picked to go for dinner and drinks!! Now the team is official and everyone has a better idea on what they’re doing, I’m hardly stopping. Some days I’m so busy I don’t even get a chance to check FaceBook!!!

The weekend before last, I went to Saigon with Angela and her sister. Is a cracker of a place. Great market (Bhan Than) with some really nice gear and lovely hotel and food. Treated myself to a total of 3 hours of spa treatments!! The reunification palace is a bit of an architectural monstrosity and trying to cross the road and dodge the motorbikes is a feat unto itself!! Highlight was most definitely the trip out to the Cu Chi tunnels to crawl through part of the 250km of tunnels used by the locals in the Vietnamese war. Plus I got to fire an M16, AK47 and M60 machine guns which was nuts!! Next weekend it’s off to an island called Sibu in Malaysia to go diving with a bunch of random lawyers out here on secondment.

Birthday last week was good fun. Can’t believe I’m now 27!! Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Went out with my team for lunch and got no fewer than 3 birthday cakes (yes, it’s showing round the waist!!) In the evening had a dozen or so people over for a BBQ at my soon to be apartment. Didn’t get off to the best start when the chef we’d hired turned up and was not only shy, but couldn’t speak a word of English!! Thankfully everyone was well fed and watered by the end!!

Socially wise, things are great. Very busy playing footy and tennis, but the standard out here is pretty poor (so I fit in quite well !!) Tough to get used to the heat and humidity though. Very much integrated into the local jewish social scene. Lots of French, Germans and Israelis here, together with a few locals (no, not Chinese jews (!), but Iraqi jews that came over here around 70 years ago)….one of whom, I’ve become particularly friendly with! Also meeting lots of people in similar situations to me and everyone is very accommodating.

F1 is in 3 weeks and promises to be an amazing weekend. Struggling to get tickets for it, so if anyone knows anyone who can help me out, please let me know.

Ho Chi Minh Tips

Stayed in the Majestic Hotel. Really nice hotel in good location.
Went to Bhan Than market (excellent), Reunification Palace (average) and Notre Dame cathedral (poor)
Lunch at Creperie Café (very nice) and dinner at Le Camarague (again, very nice)
Drinks at Saigon Saigon, top of Caravalle Hotel (very cool)
Did the Cu Chi Tunnels tour (about a 90 min drive each way and 90 mins spent there) (excellent and highly recommended) Got to crawl through the tunnels, hear the stories and fire machine guns!
Dinner at Vietnam House (above average)

Second trip was with work

Stayed in the Park Hyatt. One of the nicest hotels i've stayed in - a real classic.
Ate a cracking meal at the French restaurant L'en tete
Drinks in the Rex and Sheraton hotels roof top bars and then onto Q Bar (trendy), Lush (loud house) and Apocalypse Now (infamous)