Bangkok new Airport

Today, was my first trip back after the coup at the new Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport. This airport is huge and the arrival would be more welcoming to have some plants, flowers, paint the pillars to liven up the airport. The weather is a bit hotter than Singapore at 32 degree Celsius. Surprising the departure atrium is so much nicer and lively, what a contrast.


Transport at the Airport
I took the Airport Limousine taxi from AOT Limousine counter just outside the arrival gate – it was quick and efficient – zapped my credit card for B1,100 for a London cab. A Mercedes taxi would have cost me B1,500. But after the first 15 minutes, I should have chosen the Mercedes limousine taxi instead. The ride on a London cab was very uncomfortable and bumpy even going at 100km/hr. This is the first time I strapped on a seat belt sitting at the back seat of the taxi, I normally don't. It was the solid yellow handle bars sticking out around the back seat cabin that gave me the creeps. What if there was an accident hitting one of those bars would be nasty. So, next time no more London cab limousine.

I left the airport @ 4pm after about 25 minutes - I was in a horrendous traffic jam where time literally just stood still - so I took out my notebook and start blogging. Bangkok's heavy traffic is legendary posing a challenge for residents and visitors to this city. Once in the city to avoid the traffic jam get on the BTS Skytrain or MRT Subway - it is a reliable alternative.

Hotel Review:
Grand Hyatt Erawan
Location: 494 Rajdamri Road (near BTS Chitlom)

My Room

Comments: I have stayed here before and it is a grand and nice hotel. It is very central with the Skytrain just within walking distance. In front of the hotel has a famous shrine - Erawan Shrine - it is open free from 6.30am - 10.30pm. This is one of Bangkok's business intersections, the crowded shrine to the Hindu creation god Brahma and his elephant Erawan is filled iwth worshipers lighting incense, buying lottery tickets and watching the traditional dancing group which performs for a nominal fee.

Restaurants I recommend
Scala Shark-Fins Restaurant (1992) - $$$ - 218 Siam Square 1, Opposite Scala Theatre Bangkok - tel:252-0322. Very good Thai Teochew seafood - try the Shark Fins braised in brown sause, stir fried eggs with shark fins and crab. The Thai Chinese shark fin's soup with it whole shark fin is very different from Chinese Shark fins soup where the shark fins are shred.

The Empress Restaurant- $$ - located on the ground floor of the Royal Princess, Larn Luang Hotel. Award winning Cantonese restaurant. I had tim sum and it was just as soon as having it at any best Hong Kong restaurant.

Anna Cafe's - $ - value for money Thai food - the orginal cafe is located at Saladaeng Silom Road. I recommend this restaurant it is really good food at reasonable price.

Thai massage
This ancient style of massage is traditional Thai massage without oil, using acupressure points that stimulate muscles and nerves, and assisted by yogic stretching. Skilled Thai massage practitioners employ their hands, elbows, knees as well as their own body weight, to apply various degrees of pressure and mobilisation to different parts of the body. This ancient form of healing can do wondes for all of the body's organic systems by helping align and balance the energies of the body. By enhancing blood circulation, Thai massage can help to break down and release toxins trapped in the body, in turn strengthening the immune system. Though Thai massage can at moments be a bit painful, the after-effect is not one of fatigue but calm. Bangkok offers more places to indulge in massage than any other city on earth.

A great Thai massage can cost just B100 per hour, while posher spas like I.Sawan Residential Spa & Club @ Grand Hyatt Erawan can easily cost 10 times that.

Today, I tried this famous Reflexology (also called Foot massage) - Chang Foot massage & Spa - located @ Siam Square Soi 6 near Novotel Hotel. Chang also has a branch at the Suvarnabhumi Airport costing B300 for 1hr.

Travel Health Insurance - don't leave home without it?

Many people make trips to other countries all the time and one of the most important thing to take into consideration is "Are you covered when you are overseas?". Since I make lots of trips within in a year - I took up an annual travel insurance which is much cheaper. When my family travels with me - I get for them a single trip travel insurance which will cover them for the duration of the trip.

Think about if something happens...

• you do not have enough money to pay for medical bills
• your flight gets cancelled
• your tour agent just declared bankruptcy
• you became too sick to travel
• You missed your flight connection due to flight delays
• your personal belongings just got stolen

Have I convinced you?....read on. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

Annual or Single Trip Travel Insurance?
Single-trip travel insurance covers you for one specific holiday. Buying annual travel insurance covers you for several trips over the course of the year and can offer large savings in comparison to booking single-trip insurance every time you travel.

Annual travel insurance also offers a convenience factor - you only have to do it once for the year rather than messing around with travel insurance each time – especially useful for those who tend to travel frequently or are forgetful. My advise is to read the fine print of any policy before you purchase your selected travel insurance.

Tour operator insurance or Travel Insurance company?
My advise is best NOT to buy your travel insurance from your tour operator.

• Most travel insurance policies offered by the operator are less flexible to your individual needs
• Provide a lower amount of coverage
• May only cover a portion of the trip
• Tour coverage will only pay for what you own private health insurance does not cover
• May duplicate coverage you already have
• The tour operator goes bankrupt and you would lose both your trip and the premium
• Many travel agents are not fully knowledgeable when it comes to understanding the details of various travel insurance policies and may overlook something that could be important to you or your family.

Travel insurance policy comprehensive should consist of:-

• All medical and accidental dental expenses
• Medical expenses in Singapore for continued care from injuries sustained overseas
• Emergency Medical Evacuation Automatic extension of policy period (usually up to 30 days)
• Travel cancellation or postponement due to serious sickness or compulsory quarantine
• Loss of travel deposit due to tour agent bankruptcy
• Loss or damage to baggage, clothing, personal effects, notebook
• Loss of travel documents
• Travel delay
• Personal liability abroad
• Golf advantage due to damage or loss of golfing equipment
• Home Guard due to fire damage when left vacant for the duration of the trip
• Cover in the event of Terrorism

You would also like to check with your credit card company. Depending on the policy of the credit card issuer, you may be provided with some travel insurance protection. The travel insurance coverage varies from credit card companies.

Bon Voyage...

Rubbish Paradise

Singapore - If you ask any Singaporean do you know where is Pulau Semakau, their response might be: - Ugh? or Se-bak-kau (in Hokkien it means "4-eyes monster") or a "blur" look in their eyes.


In fact, Pulau Semakau is a largely man-make island with mangrove swamps that host some of Singapore's most colourful marine species, double as a dumping ground for incinerated waste.





The fact certainly impressed American journalist Eric Bland on a recent trip, as he lauded the island as a potential useful conversation and waste management model for other cities. He said "The only visible trash is a bit of driftwood on the rocky shore, marking high tide in an artificial bay. Water rushes out of the bay through a small opening, making waves in the Singapore straits. The smell of rain is in the air....."


You would never know that all the trash from Singapore's 4.4 million residents is being dumped here 24 hours a day, seven days a week - and expected to last till 2040. This is no ordinary landfill: the island doubles as a biodiversity hotspot, of all things, attracting rare species of plants and animals. It even attracts ecotourists on specially arranged guided tours.


In 1999, when the last remaining landfill on Singapore’s mainland was exhausted, the Semakau Landfill was created by enclosing Pulau Semakau and a small adjacent island (Pulau Sakeng) with a rock bund. The bund enclosed 11 bays, or cells, into which the ash from incinerated waster is deposited each day. Water is pumped out of a cell before the waste, sealed in plastic to prevent leakage, is deposited. So far, four cells have been fully filled above sea-level, topped with dirt and planted with grass.


During the construction of the landfill, effort was made to protect the marine ecosystem, especially mangroves and corals. Mangrove swamps surrounding the original were replanted, and have thrived. Wildlife continues to thrive on Pulau Semakau, and the air and water quality remains good.


On 16 Jul 05, Pulau Semakau was opened for nature-related recreational activities. Members of the public can now visit the island for birdwatching, sports fishing and guided walks.


Did you know that Singapore generates 3 per cent of its electricity from burning rubbish, three times the power needed for all street lighting, an that the rubbish burns at such high temperatues that it doesn't need any extra fuel?



Reference:
wildsingapore.com
BT - 11 May, 2007

Paintwork starts on the First A380

Question: How many litres of paint is used for the first Singapore Airlines A380? don't know...read on.

European plan maker Airbus has started paintwork on the first A380 for Singapore Airlines following the completion of cabin installation for the aircraft. The A380 will stay about three weeks in the company's paint shop in Hamburg, Germany, where in addition to the actual painting, most of the other preparatory work such as cleaning, grinding, masking and unmasking the 3,100 square metres of surface of the A380 will be done.

SIA has ordered 19 of the giant planes, with the first to be delivered in October this year.

Answer: About 3,600 litres of chromatic-free paint is used for three layers of paint (primer, customer-paint, top-coat) for an A380. Only about 600 to 1,000 kg of paint stays on teh aircraft. Each layer measures about 0.12 mm and is able to withstand differences in temperatures of about 100 degree Celsius.

Airbus is applying the most modern and environmental-friendly techniques for the A380 painting process. Electro-static pistols are used to minimise paint mist. Used air is cleaned and washed through a multi-stage cleaning process to ensure that paint particles ae disposed separately.

Reference: BT, April 13, 2007

10 Commandments for Good Travellers

1. Thou shall not expect to find things as thou as at home, for thou hast left home to find things different.
2. Thou shall not take anything too seriously, for a carefree mind is the start of a good holiday
3. Thou shall not let travellers get on your nerves, for thou hast paid good money to enjoy yourself.
4. Remember to take half as many clothes as thou thinkest and twice the money.
5. Know at all times where thy passport is, for a person without a passport is a person without a country.
6. Remember that if thou had been expected to say in one place, thou would have been created with roots.
7. Thou shalt not worry, for he that worried hath no pleasure
8. When in a country not your own, be prepared to do somewhat as they do.
9. Thou shalt not judge the people of the country by the people who hath given thee trouble
10. Remember thou art a guest in other lands and he who treats his host with respect shall be honoured.

Alcohol may shrink brain, scan show

Drinking large amounts of alcohol might not only leave you with a headache in the morning - it could also shrink your brain. The warning comes after reseachers examined the brains of more than 1800 people, ranging from former and non-drinkers to heavy drinkers.



Using Magnetic resonance imaging scans, the study found that people who had more than 14 drinks a week had an average 1.6% reduction in the ratio of brain volume to skull size campared with non-drinkers. Study author Carol Ann Paul, of Wellesley College in the US said the effect was slightly larger in women than men, and drinking large amounts of alcohol seemed to have the greatest impact on brain volume among women aged in their 70s.


While previous research had shown low to moderate alcohol consumption helped reduce cardiovascular disease, she said, the new findings revealed a very different result of brain volume - which can be seen as a measure of brain ageing.

"Greater alcohol consumption in negatively correlated with brain volume. There appears to be no beneficial effect of low to moderate drinking on brain volume." The findings, presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Boston, are the latest to link alcohol with brain size.


Several years ago, US researchers found moderate drinkers had smaller brains than those who abstained, while a separate study of 79 alcholics showed females were losing almost twice as much grey matter as men.

In 1990s. Professor Clive Harper of the University of Sydney, examined the brains of dead people and found that even moderate or social drinking could reduce brain size.

Dr. Richard Cash, said that alcohol could affect brain functions, such as memory and logical thinking and the new study appeared to back that up. "This is valuable evidence of the neurosciences to support what we've been seeing from our neuropsychological studies." He said "Brain volume is related to processing power."

The most recent Australian Bureau of statistics figures show about one in every eight adults consumed alcohol at a risky or high-risk level. An everage of five or more drinks a day for men, and three or more for women, is considered a long-term risk.

Reference: The Age - May 3, 2007

First business trip to Canberra

Canberra - The weather is nicer and cooler in Canberra around 8-10 degree celsius - The Federal Capital of Australia. All the governments offices and foreign embassies are located here. Whilst taking a taxi to my destination - I notice the Singapore Embassy, Japan Embassy, Chinese Embassy all within the same vincinity.



I stayed at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra for 2 nights, Canberra's only five-star hotel, is conveniently located in the national capital's Parliamentary Triangle, minutes from Canberra's major tourist attractions, the city centre and government offices. Heritage listed, this luxurious boutique hotel has been restored to its art deco grace and charm with extensive renovations elevating the hotel to the prestigious Park Hyatt branding. The atmosphere is one of a welcoming 'home away from home', a genteel estate surrounded by landscaped lawns and gardens.