Same day back on the plane..

Sydney - Yes, I am back on the plane again. Arrived @ 1am and slept at 3am. I was woken up by my youngest son @ 10am.

At 6pm, I called the taxi company to pick me up but did not arrive at all and the taxi company had to change to another taxi to pick me up to the airport. I was in a hurry but manage to get to the airport with time to catch a quick dinner at the lounge. The SQ premier lounge has improved on their spread of food for dinner - it is good and tasty now. Maybe someone did complaint to them about it.

This will be my first time on board the new Airbus A380 - the largest commercial aircraft in the world. It is very spacious and I had the economy upper deck and was seat right at the back. The seat next to me was vacant so ample room space for me.

I pre ordered seafood and it was served first otherwise I will always get it last or no choice left for me. The take off and landing was smooth but expected turbulence over Australia is very normal.

On-time

Seoul - At 8.30am, Young Jin arrived via Taxi which I told him to do so. Reason being is that I have a very short time to complete 3 meetings and a lunch and have to be back before 3pm (managed to get a a late check-out). Young Jin told me that he discussed last night rendezvous with his wife on his missing turnings and came to the conclusion that he 'gotten approval' to buy a GPS system.

We arrived at the meetings on time and completed it on-time too. The 3rd meeting was done over lunch at a traditional Korean noodle restaurant - An Dong noodles. It was my first time and it was delicious. In the short time of knowing Mr Koh, I have had tried different Korean dishes with him - pork trotters, special Korean Ginseng chicken soup, introduced me Makegeolli (Korean liquor) and now An Dong noodles.

This meeting was a heart felt because of the consolidation within LG, Mr Koh and team will no longer be doing training and thus a partner any more. But I really treasure his friendship even though moving forward we no longer will be doing business.

I caught the Hotel shuttle bus @ 3.12pm which brings me to the Airport Limosine bus station which arrived about 30 minutes later. I catch the 7.25pm flight and will be back to Singapore @ 1.05am the next day.

Sashimi for dinner..

SEOUL - It was only last Friday that my travel agent confirmed a ticket for today's flight. It's the holiday season in Singapore and many families have booked their holidays to popular destinations like Korea, Japan and China.

Back again in Seoul for 2 days of back-to-back meetings - this will be one of my shortest trip to Seoul. I took the Limosine bus (602-1) @ bus station 12 to Grand Hilton Hotel. I decided to stay there because it is about US$50 cheaper than my ususal Renaissance Hotel. It took only 1hr 10 minutes to reach the hotel. The Hotel shuttle bus was waiting at the bus stop on the main road to bring me up the small hill to the lobby of the Hotel. The rooms are clean, spacious, and the bed is soft and comfortable. Compared to Renaissance Hotel, this hotel has a wide range of cable TV to choose from therefore they do not have any pay video-on-demand.

At 6pm, Young Jin arrived in his car and we left for the Gangnam area to meet our partner for dinner @ a sashimi restaurant. Young Jin seems a bit lost on the road and he was honest to admit he drives only over the weekend. He was not familiar with the roads around Grand Hilton Hotel and many a times he missed a turning. But it was fine with me as it's Sunday - how can I fault him on his off-day....

Meeting our partner was good and we had a good time but I think Young Jin regretted driving because he could not drink. Young Jin loves drinking but he was sober today. Korean laws are very strict on drink driving...

Japan and fascination with Good food

Tokyo - There is no country more gastronomic and passionate about food as Japan. Tea-making is a semi-religious ritual, pastry chefs can gain rock star status and people can queue for hours to buy courgette-flavoured macaroons or the first special mushrooms of the season.

According to Michelin guides - in 2007 Japan restaurants was awarded an unprecedented 191, more than they have bestowed on any other city. And now the new guide, Michelin Guide Tokyo 2008.

Japan's food obsession runs deeper than the huge array of top quality of restaurants. More than one third of Japanese commerical television is devoted to food-related themes, from wacky eating competitions to earnest cooking programmes. On a per-capita basis, inner Tokyo (pop. 8.5m) boasts the highest concentration fo eateries among the world's major cities - just under 200,000 according to the Japanese government, compared with about 20,000 restaurants for Paris and 23,000 restaurants for New York City.

Japan now draws more Michelin-starred chefs than any country apart from France.

This simple reason for this dine-out culture is Tokyo's population density: People tend ot live in small places, entertain rarely at home and eat out frequently. Entertainment expenses are still generous in Japanese business and Tokyo's vast financial industry.

Ref: Financial Times "However you slice it, Tokyo has taste" - 24 Nov 2007

Tsukiji again

Tokyo - Tim and Tony has never been to Tsukiji (the largest fish market in the world), so we met @ 4.30am at the lobby and reach Tsukiji around 5pm. We arrived early and had to wait because the auction of the Tunas did not start until 5.40am. The auction area was crowded with many people inspecting the tunas.

Later I was told by Terry that these bidders check the fat and quality of the Tunas by inspecting the tail. The higher the fat content the more expensive the Tuna cost. Maybe similiar to beef - which in this case they called 'marble' - the streaking fat on a piece of steak that when cooked just melts in your mouth.

All the Tuna's tail portion has been cut off leaving the red meat of the fish - some bidders were poking their fingers into the flesh of the Tuna. There are 2 section of the auction - the fresh Tunas and the frozen Tunas. The fresh Tuna auction is much more expensive - each Tuna can cost US$2,000 to US$ 20,000.

Old 747

Tokyo - This trip to Tokyo I booked my seats way at the back because it was a full flight on this 'red eye' and there are not many aisle seats left. But it was marred with 3 out of 4 toilets spoilt. I think this Boeing 747 is due for retirement but had to be dragged on because of the A380 delays. Whilst most airlines are using past 7-8 years. On this aircraft, knowing that SQ does a good job you can still see the discolouration on the decoration, breakdown on the toilets, and inflight entertainment screen is no longer sharp.

Took 1hr from Narita to reach Hotel East 21 @ 9.20am. I like this hotel because of the warm toilet seats - it is winter and can you imagine seating on a cold toilet seat...ouch! Furthermore, Japanese toilet seats has bidet.

I had breakfast at a Japanese burger fast food restaurant - Lotteria.

Lunch and dinner was at a soba tempura restaurant.
These restaurants are within 10 minutes walking distance from Hotel East 21.

Tiger setting base in South Korea

Seoul - The Budget carrier Tiger Airways will spread its wings to South Korea. It is setting up a nwe carrier called Incheon Tiger Airways and will have an initial fleet of 5 A320 aircraft. Tiger Airways will own 49% of the carrier and the South Korean city of Incheon will own the rest. The new carrier will start flying in 12 months time. The join venture will challenge Korea Air Lines and Asiana Airlines for passengers in Asia's fourth largest economy; it will have domestic and international routes - with flights from South Korea to China, Japan and the Russian Far East.

BBQ Seafood

Ho Chi Minh City - After all the day's meeting is over, I went over to Ben Thanh market for some souvenir shopping and be absorbed in the local's hustling and bustling. The constant bargaining is such fun and you become good after a few good buys....

I also caught up with some friends who happened to be in HCMC at the same time. At night we had a late dinner @ a road side hawker for seafood. This is located beside Ben Thanh market. It was good and delicious - BBQ snails, ginger stir-fried clams, seafood soup, Vietnamese fresh spring rolls, vegetables (Kang kong fried with garlic) and fresh lime juice for just S$30.

New Saigon Airport Terminal

Ho Chi Minh City - Upon landing I noticed a spanking clean new airport terminal with aerobridges. Quite different from when I arrived in March this year. This is a new airport terminal only thus at the same old location. The Vietnamese Government is building a super airport at Long Thanh to be completed by 2015.



The arrival was quite a nightmare with long queues moving very slowly towards to immigration officials. I queue at the wheelchair lane because the immigration officials were stamping entry on the foreigners queuing at this lane. There were 2 lanes, I was in the inner lane. When the wheelchair passengers starting rolling in, the immigration officials gestured with his hands movements for passengers queuing in the outer lane to move to the inner lane. The lady that was up front and next to be stamped by the immigrated official was pissed and started making a scene. She was edging herself upfront in the inner lane trying to cut the queue, obviously standing in no man's land. The immigration officials got really upset and moved all that were queuing in the inner lane back to the normal lanes. I had to start the queue from the back.

A lesson learnt in all my travels is that never get upset with immigration officials or show displeasure - they can make it very unpleasant. I encountered an experience many years ago in Beijing - an Indian passenger was running late and was belligerent. The Chinese official just took his time and the Indian passenger keep shouting that he is late, finally a senior official pull the Indian passenger aside. Obviously, this Indian chap did not make it to his plane on time.

Back to Omni Saigon again - this is a good 5-star hotel and convenient located. Went out to have a late lunch at Lemon Grass restaurant. After which, I walked around HCMC, around 6pm, it started to rain very heavily and many roads in District 1 was flooded and the mobile phones lines were down. I tried to call and it gives message "Error in Connection" only after 2 hrs was I able to get a connection through.

It was only later that I found out Vietnam has a serious flooding problem especially after heavy rains. The water reach knee high and there is a bad smell due to the mixture of sewage and rain water.