Unfriendly MACAU...

Macau -  We visited the Fisherman Wharf located near the Macau ferry - occupying 111,5000sq meter and claimed in their brochure to be the 1st ever themed entertainment attraction in Macau. But reality is far from claimed by the brochure - this is the most boring theme entertainment ever - not advise to visit at all. There is nothing of interest here - most of the theme attractions are closed.

Went over the New Yaohan departmental store - claimed to be the only department store in Macau - not too exciting.

Came back to the Hotel for a meeting with their sales and banquet to discuss for next year conference. Overall, I am not impress with Metropark Hotel.

Generally, I think Macau has a big problem in Macau on their service level. Macau has so many Mainland Chinese in the service and entertainment business that most are not given ample service training besides just being able to speak Mandarin. Macau is the only place, in all the countries I have travel around that the housekeeper has the audacity to question you why you need more towels and more bottles of water. So, in order to enjoy your trip in Macau - you need to set service level expectations very low. Don't set your expectation too high and you will not be disappointed.

In the afternoon, I visit Macau Tower. One of the must see icon of Macau. The express lift takes you to the 58th floor (view gallary) and then to the 61st floor. On the 61st floor it is open air viewing gallary and is also the location for bungee jumping and aerial walking for the brave hearted.

After meetings...off to Macau

Hong Kong - After all the meetings, I decided to take a nice stroll along the Harbour front located next to the Renaissance Kowloon Hotel. It is also called "Avenue of Stars" having the hand prints of HongKong famous movie stars similiar to Hollywood movie stars. The weather is very nice around 17 degrees and many times it reminds us of Perth.

At the end of the Avenue of Stars, there is the HK Space Museum and fortunately it is free entry on every Wednesday.

Macau - At around 8pm, took the jet foil (New World First Ferry) from Kowloon Harbour to Macau jetty. It took about 1hr and it was a smooth ride. There was meant to be a free shuttle bus to pick us up but did not know that it end at 9.15pm - we were 30 minutes late.

Macau like Hong Kong is part of China.  Macau, the former Portuguese colony is a  Special Administrative Region and has an area of 28.6 sq. km (about half the size of Singapore) - comprising of the Macau Peninsula (with 9.3 sq. km and connected to Mainland China), the islands of Taipa (6.5 sq. km) and Coloane (7.6 sq. km) and the reclaimed area Cotai (5.2 sq. km).    Macau official currency, the pataca is pegged to the Hong Kong  dollar which is also accepted as currency.   Chinese and Portuguese are the two official languages and most signs are displayed both languages.   Cantonese is the predominant Chinese dialect.

I took a taxi to MetroPark Hotel - you have to speak Mandarin or Cantonese in Macau otherwise you will have difficulty nagivating yourself around. This is a 3-star hotel and the room that was given to me was a smoking room - it was really bad - I could not breathe. This will be my hotel for the next 2 nights. The hotel staff had to spray air-refreshner and increased the speed of the air-con to rid the room of smoke. The manger told me there are so many smoking floors because many people from mainland China and Hongkonger come to Macau to smoke freely. There are no restrictions on where you can smoke in Macau - basically it is a smokers paradise.

There are no internet access in my room but all guest are given free 15 minutes to use the ground floor to access their email or internet daily - this was very troublesome.

Nice weather in Hong Kong...

Hong Kong - Even at 10.45pm the Hong Kong International Airport was crowded with people. It is the holiday season and many people are in Hong Kong enjoying the cool and nice weather. Took the Airport Express to Kowloon and stayed at Renaissance Kowloon Hotel. Just had to prepare for the next day and the time is already 1am...time to zzzz. Renaissance Kowloon Hotel is a walking distance to the harbour front.

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