AOB Jan and Feb 2008
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The opinions expressed on these pages are entirely personal unless they are credited; you may not agree with all, or anything, that I write. So please use the feedback page to respond, comment or berate me.
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An Occasional Blog
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Thailand Blogs Bangkok Pundit - politics Bangkok Metblogs - city life Thai-blogs.com - rather serious
2bangkok.com
- not really a blog but always
up to date on Bangkok news
BKKOK.com
Dubai Blogs Hong Kong Blogs A Big White Guy in Hong Kong - self explanatory Ordinary Gweilo Hemlock's Diary. And people think I am opinionated - try this! SimonWorld - Hong Kong commentary and great links to other Asian blogs EastSouthWestNorth - commentary Glutter.org - Greater China democracy news and many great links Hong Kong Hustle In China Danwei - media and advertising news from China
Shanghai Diaries - self
explanatory
In Macau My Olive Tree - Macau blog
In Singapore: Xiaxue - self-confessed mean, bitchy, sex goddess who says "wah" a lot! Mr Brown - colourful commentary from Singapore
Asia Travel Circle of Asia a useful commercial site Tales of Asia perspective and commentary on Cambodia and Thailand and other Asian travels Visit Laos a useful guide on getting to and traveling in Laos. Smart Travel Asia useful tips and destination guides. Maybe too up market.
Aviation Amadeus (airline schedules) Airline meals - see it b4 you eat it !
Airliners
- aviation forum, trip reports and pix
archive Planenation - commercial aviation news Airchive - a web museum of commercial aviation.
News The Guardian - UK
China sites
Bangkok info sites
Worthy Sites Rconversation - from Rebecca MacKinnon, ex-TV reporter-turned-blogger.
Fun Sites
Useful Sites
Technology Ideas
Author
Robert Scott lives and works in Dubai; born in England I have since lived in Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. I am very happily engaged to Tai.
If you want to know more you only need to ask! ask.
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29 February 2008 It is Leap Day - in the UK this is the one day every four years when women are supposed to propose to the man in their life !! We are now back in BKK on a lovely sunny Friday morning. And I need to take the car back. It has been fun driving around for a few days. It gives you that much more freedom to stop off where and how you want to. 27 February 2008 Staying at the Rock Resort in Hua Hin. This is meant to be an exclusive boutique resort: But: The huge bathtub is for ornamentation only - the water dribbles in. The mosquitos are all over the place - and cos the sliding doors fit so badly they get in easily. The rain shower is cold water only. Breakfast is about as good as the infamous Tanawit - also in Hua Hin. 26 February 2008 We have had a busy few days in Hong Kong; been to the Peak, Causeway Bay, Cheung Chau, Nathan Road and Ocean Park. It was good to spend time with Alex. Although I do find my trips back to HKG to be a little stressful. This was the first trip back for over 16 months - and there are many memories there. It is a little strange. The city is still so very familiar; and for the most part it appears to be prospering still. ********************** It is Tai's birthday today. Happy birthday hon ! We are in Bangkok this morning - and heading for Hua Hin. 25 February 2008 It is so cold in HKG. Grey and cold. 23 February 2008 I have always enjoyed arriving at Hong Kong's wonderfully efficient new airport but it is alarming to see the police state mentality that seems to now prevail as you disembark. Leaving the plane and walking down the ramp you are met by a large number of Hong Kong immigration officials. One is there with a hand held video camera filming everyone that gets off the plane. He must be the Edison Chen of immigration. The others are there stopping anyone who looks remotely black. Sadly it appears to be as simple as that . If you are white or Asian you walk on; if you are black you are stopped for questioning. And the manner in which it is done appears particularly rude. Sad to see. 22 February 2008 We made it to Hong Kong. But it was a pretty stressful day. Up early. But really busy at Dubai airport and traffic on the terminal access roads was at a standstill. As Tai was flying standby we did not know if she would get onto the flight until the last minute. And rather predictably although she made it to HKG her bag is still in Dubai. So that meant shopping at 1am for something to wear and contact lens solutions. ******************** Something I did not know from Dubai: dual pricing of water and electricity based on nationality: Expatriates pay between AED0.2/kWh and AED0.33/kWh, for both domestic and industrial users. Water tariffs will range from AED0.03-0.04 a gallon for both domestic and industrial consumers. Tariffs paid by local nationals will remain unchanged, at AED0.06/kWh for electricity and AED0.015 a gallon for water. 20 February 2008 One more day of work and then a week's holiday. Think I have earned it. ***************** The Thomson acquisition of Reuters appears to have a green light from the regulators to proceed. See Today's news. The deal gives 352.5 pence per share to shareholders together with 0.16 Thomson-Reuters PLC (the special purpose vehicle used to make the acquisition) share for each Reuters share. Personal view; the trustees sold out. If the trustees are not trustworthy who is!? ****************** I hereby commit that I will never enter into a personal transaction with Emirates Bank. What a mess. Customer service means "we are right and you are an idiot" and "no we cannot put you in contact with another department that might be able to help as we do not have telephone numbers for other departments because we are a big and important organisation." grrrr. 19 February 2008 Tai is off to Athens for the night. The forecast is for a sunny spring day so it should be nice. We were at Global village two nights ago, It was a nice evening with friends; though the drive home was a bit alarming through really patchy fog. ***************** The latest fall out from the Edison Chen pictures scandals in Hong Kong: Actress Cecilia Cheung and husband Nicholas Tse now
live separately and Bobo Chan broke off an engagement with her fiance.
Gillian Chung reportedly attempted suicide but failed. 16 February 2008 Tai came back from BKK this morning and I am pleased to say arrived with everything from a Valentines Card to my favourite SandP almond cakes - these by the way are really good - not too sweet! And she brought the Thai English language newspapers. Page 2 of The Nation screams out "Panties kept as teen-sex trophies" - now there is a headline that you are unlikely to ever read in Dubai. 15 February 2008 This is the second weekend in a row that Tai has been away and I have felt a bit lost today. Did not sleep well. And have not done much today. A visit to the office and a pointless visit to the mall. At least I got to the gym this evening. And that felt better. But too lazy to cook. I think if I was on my own permanently I would starve! Soup for dinner. Am watching Michael Palin's New Europe - such a troubled recent past - and countries that I really know far too little about. 85% of Bulgaria's large gypsy population is unemployed; only 10% get secondary education. The Ottaman Empire (ruled from Constantinople) used to stretch as far into Europe as Vienna. Turkey's population is bigger than any other European nation. The Semaniya mosque is beautiful. And why shouldn't modern Europe include the Islamic faith. Embracing Turkey into Europe is a must and should be sooner not later. Palin just described Istanbul as one of the great destinations of the world. Hard to argue. 14 February 2008 Only in Germany - rugs that are designed like a large sausage - I can imagine nothing wurst !! http://www.wurstteppich.de/ ******************** Valentines Day - 7.00pm and still at work. Nothing else to do. Should go to the gym. ******************** Had a nice morning - drive to Al Ain to see one of our schools there. Gave a little speech to the year 10 - 12 graduating students. It was a lovely day for a drive and Al Ain is quiet and green and rather peaceful after Dubai. ********************* My web site is being overrun by medical - pharmaceutical spam. It seems to appear as quickly as I can delete it. I don't want to get rid of the tag board but I am having to log on a few times a day to delete the junk that is left there. I delete the message and ban the urls but they still find keep coming. It makes me mad - and there appears to be nothing that I can do about it ! 13 February 2008 Declaring your affection in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is harder to do
as Saudi Arabia's religious police have banned red roses ahead of
Valentine's Day on February 14. ********************** And to make it harder to be on time for your date in Dubai motorists are in for further traffic chaos from Wednesday night with the closure of parts of Sheikh Zayed Road. The closure will affect the fast lane in both directions of the road between Defence Interchange and the Trade Centre roundabout for the construction of a pedestrian bridge. Expect chaos on Thursday night as people head out for the weekend. 12 February 2008 The big news - have I already mentioned this? - is that we have set a wedding date; our families know and our friends are finding out directly or through a very effective grapevine. Thursday October 16th starting at 7.29 in the morning. The times and date have been chosen as the most auspicious time for us. Sorry to be quiet for a few days! Lots to plan and much to arrange. It will be a very special and happy day. ******************* We had an early Valentine's dinner last night as Tai left for a four night trip to Bangkok today. Nice evening; but as I was driving and Tai is flying it was food and water and tea! Tai had come back from Malta very late on Saturday night - just in time for me to have a few hours sleep and head of to work on Sunday morning. But I did keep busy at the weekend with company events. Including the staff sports day for all our schools attended by over 2,000 people. I This meant playing some cricket for the first time in years (albeit 7 a side) and football for the first time since hanging up my boots in Hong Kong in 2002!). Will try and see if there are any pictures to share. 8 February Its the weekend but Tai is on her way to Malta. Pity as it is a lovely spring day in Dubai. It would be a nice day for a long walk by the creek or around the park. All is well on the home front. Still working too hard! Latest capacity changes from EK - CPT - to be launched using a 3 class B 772ER instead of an A 332. Emirates A380 schedule - confirmed so far: Effective 01OCT08 6 February Less than 5 hours sleep. The question is whether my work, stress and uncertainty is beginning to hurt my home life? Work is hard right now. I try not to take my work home with me. But it is hard to switch off completely - and it may be making me more defensive and less assured. I have to go to work today - but I really feel that Tai and I need some quiet time together to take care of the present and future and to remember what really matters to us. 5 February 2008 Tai is back from what looks like a happy and fun trip to Seoul. But I am home alone after a long, long day. And that's not how things are supposed to be. It's late and I had better try and sleep. But all that I want feels in jeopardy tonight. 4 February 2008 Am still in the office after 8pm - second day running. Not sure I should complain as some of my colleagues worked an all nighter. But I am drained. And there is more to do this week still. Tai will be back in the morning. I need an early night so that I can get to the airport to meet her. Sounds like she had a good time in Seoul. 3 February 2008 Tai is in Seoul - no mobile access so we cannot sms eachother. Sad ! I am so tired after work today that I can hardly type. Sorry - no energy to write anything. ******************** KPMG rates Dubai as the most expensive place to play golf in the world - there are only 117 holes of grass golf and all are members courses. At over US$200 for a weekend round the costs are prohibitive. 2 February 2008 A typical Dubai weekend - Deira City Centre mall on Friday and Mall of the Emirates on Saturday!!! ******************** Severe internet delays in Dubai - and many sites simply not loading. There are a couple of undersea cables that have apparently broken - and the estimates are that they will take 2 or 3 weeks to fix. The problem started with the loss of two Mediterranean cables -- FLAG Telecom's FLAG Europe-Asia cable and SeaMeWe-4, a cable owned by a consortium of more than a dozen telecommunications companies -- this has snarled Internet and phone traffic from Egypt to India. Then a third undersea cable has been cut between Dubai and Oman yesterday morning, plunging the international communication systems in Middle East and Asia into chaos. FLAG telecom, a British company that own the undersea cable network, reported that its FALCON, one of its submarine data cables, had been damaged at a location that is around 35 mile from Dubai, on a stretch between UAE and Oman. Expect things to be worse tomorrow as businesses return after the weekend. ******************** Tai leaves for her first ever trip to Seoul tonight - one of the three nights away, but two of them are overnight flights, trips. Tiring. And about -6C in Seoul. But always fun to see somewhere new for the first time. 1 February 2008 From an opinion piece in today's Guardian newspaper - the article was about the ICC and the farcical situation in the Singh/Symonds affair - but the comments on Dubai were interesting: "The glittering tower blocks and marble facades of Dubai suggest a land of 21st-century efficiency when in fact the opposite is the case. The truth is that in Dubai mobile phones barely work and the internet runs at the same speed as its local road system, which makes the M25 look like the Hockenheimring. The most unforgiving critic would describe the self-styled "world's greatest destination" as a giant global marketing fraud, while a kinder soul might be content with the notion that it is a place of bewildering contradiction. There is an element of truth in both, no doubt, but perhaps the most accurate thing anyone could say about Dubai is that it is the perfect place for the headquarters of a seriously incompetent outfit like the International Cricket Council." ********************* Meanwhile near-gale force winds are expected to hit Dubai today. The shamal (desert wind) was expected to begin late last night and has been significantly upgraded as its strength grew during the week. Wind speeds of 25 to 30 knots are expected inland and 35 knots offshore. Visibility in the city is expected to go down to 1.5km and the desert areas will be worse affected. It looks like a good day for the mall. ******************* EK starts daily service to Houston from today. No more 2 or 3 day layovers. After 2 months this route is apparently doing very well, both pax and freight. |
29 January 2008 George Bush gave his last state of the union address last night in the USA. I almost felt sorry for him: for the last few years the White House has talked up a strong economy, but got very little credit because of struggles in Iraq. Now things are getting better in Iraq, but Bush is getting very little credit for that because .... the economy is getting worse. 28 January 2008 Home one day and gone the next - Tai left for Venice this morning where the annual two week carnival started last Friday. It is a wonderful, historical event full of history and fun. She should have a great trip... ******************* Me - stuck in Dubai and working far too hard. 27 January 2008 Tai came home about 1am and old faithful was at the airport to meet and greet....Tai has vowed no more Glasgow flights....too many heavy drinking Scots !! ******************** The February roster is out and as top bid for the month Tai has done well. 25 January 2008 Tai and her crew ended up eating at MacDonalds - must have mistaken it for a Scottish restaurant !! ********************** The rather unpleasant and irritatingly smug Tom Glocer was on BBC world this morning from Davos - he said that the Thomson takeover of Reuters would happen in Q1 (I suspect it is in Q2) and that in 5 years time Thomson shareholders would not be able to believe how cheaply they had acquired Reuters. That is alarming. Did he under value Reuters to make the sale - after all he is the new CEO of the combined entity? *********************** Producers of Thailand's splendid air crew soap opera - Songkhram Nangfah - have promised to make the crew skirts longer and to stop the catfights - at least while the crew are on duty. rascott.com found this picture of the new uniform which will no doubt be approved of by the Thai Airways flight attendants union:
just kidding !!! ************************** We went out for a walk around Mercato last night - it was nice to relax for a while - then to Falcon for a short night as we were up by 5am to get Tai to the airport for the 7.50am flight to bonnie Glasgow. Her first trip to Scotland and her first UK flight for a long time. It is the weekend here - and I am on my own - and miss her badly. I got back from the airport and was watching "Love Actually" on one of the movie channels - and I suddenly felt really really sad.....it was quite disturbing..... I guess it was the result of an unpleasant week at work and not enough sleep and missing someone..... *************************** I had better go out and shop for a while or do something to keep sane! 24 January 2008 This is too good to miss - World Focus Airlines of Hungary rebranded as Ank Air - with an unfortunately located logo ! Thanks to my tag-board correspondent for spotting this gem !
23 January 2008 Lots of fuss about the Thai Channel 5 soap opera "War of Angels" - Tai cant understand all the fuss - it is only soap opera - everyone knows that it is not for real. She is right - this is entertainment; aimed at getting as many veiwers as possible to sell as much advertising as possible - and the free publicity, not just in Thailand, nut internationally, has made sure that the show is a huge hit! I am told that there was no fighting among the crew overnight to Tehran; everyone is too tired and too busy during this turnaround. Watched the trailer for the show - the "captain" only has three stripes - a first officer - not worth fighting over ! And why are a Bangkok airline crew having a layover on two hours away Singapore? ********************** It was my Mum's 75th birthday yesterday and she is strong, well and busy. Baby brother sent flowers on behalf of us all. Well done Tim. I hope she can come and see Tai and I in Dubai later in the year. ************************ Complete power failure in my building at 6am this morning. I had to shower, shave and......by candlelight. Worse still, no morning coffee. 21 January 2008 One nice email cheered up what was a thoroughly depressing day yesterday:
Hi, I am a pilot counting the days until my Emirates interview and I
have been devouring "all things Emirates", including your blog, in
anticipation. I just wanted to say thanks for the blog and the
great pictures!
There are people who read this web site !!! ********************** Tai leaves Bangkok tonight to come back to Dubai - but after a day sleeping she heads off overnight to Tehran and back. And will be away in Glasgow this weekend. So if the blog is a bit depressed over the next few days you now know why! 20 January 2008 That is a long gap in this diary. Was in Bangkok over the last three days. Left on Wednesday night (16th) and came back at 2.00am this morning. Tai is still at home for a high school reunion last night. It was great to be home. A day or two too short to be able to do all that I wanted to do and see all that I wanted to see. But the weather was great; warm and blue skies. I was with Tai. We ate well and we slept a lot. It was very hard to come home last night. ******************** My favourite sign in the Bangkok shops is in TOPS supermarket in Silom; "Beware of your possessions"..... I am now on the look out for shopping bags that have a vendetta and for the possible assault by my wallet. Be aware might be better advise! ********************* It was great to be back in a city that I regard as home. Bangkok has so much more to see and do; so much more energy; so much more life and colour. A weekend is not enough time. We landed on Thursday morning; we slept until lunch. Dinner on Thursday night was very romantic - open air at Vertigo restaurant on the 68th floor of the Banyan Tree hotel. It is a long way down. The food really does not justify the prices which are as sky high as the restaurant. But it is a great place to be with someone very special. We were on the River on Friday for lunch at the Deck at the Arun Residence. The sky was clear blue and it was a lovely warm day to be by the river. Had dinner on Friday night at Kuppa with friends. It was great to see them and catch up on all their news. And then it was Saturday - some shopping and lunch at Fuji and it was time to come home. Another day to do the things I would like to do would have been best. I did not even get an Au Bon Pain coffee! And we were both tired so with the time difference we were sleeping until late morning. 15 January 2008 It has been two days of truly terrible traffic jams in Dubai. Yesterday GW Bush was in town leading to the 6am to 5pm of all major raods and tunnels and most of the roads in Bur Dubai. Then it rained all night. And it has rained all day. And the roads have little or no drainage. So many roads are closed today due to standing water. It is something of a nightmare out there. It took me almost 3 hours to do a 15 minute journey to work this morning. I have no idea whether I will be able to drive even close to Falcon tonight. The dirt roads will be a mud bath. 13 January 2008 The bad news this morning is that our Executive Towers apartment will not complete until September 2008. I am not surprised; but it is later than I was hoping. I thought a delay until summer was likely. The account manager at Dubai Properties said he was surprised that the customer service department had not been in contact by letter or email. I am surprised that they have a customer service department The silence in the year and 2 days since we signed for the apartment has been deafening. Now I will need to extend the Falcon Tower lease - that could be an interesting discussion. 12 January 2008 Tai left for Bangkok early this morning - it was not easy getting up today and to be honest I was not ready for her to go away for four days. ********************* The car is at the Merc garage for servicing. Merc servicing is not going to be cheap! But has to be done by their garage to maintain the warranty and the resale under the lease. ********************* I wonder why they dont instal seatbelts in airplane washrooms. Hygiene I guess. Revolting thought. But it must be awful if the plane hits turbulence while you are crammed into the planet's smallest room. This was prompted by stories of bad turbulence ocer Canada injuring 10 pax and crew and requiring an emergency landing for medical treatment. ********************** It is a Saturday but traffic is horrible. Have been at work since dropping the car off this morning. But not much point in sitting in a taxi going no where. 11 January 2008 There will be a new role for Emirates crew later his year - first class shower attendant. Emirates has announced that showers will be available to refresh first-class passengers on their new Airbus A380 aircraft this year. The A380 will carry one tonne of fresh water on its superjumbos. And a large amount of shower get. Apparently the showers are to be cleaned after every use. Another glamorous job for the cabin crew! 10 January 2008 Negligent of me to ignore the blog for three days. But the blog has its uses. An old friend and colleague in New York found me the other day and sent a how are you - and haven't you got older email !!! It is a holiday in Dubai today - the last long weekend until November I think. But there is work to be done! I am so looking forward to two days in Bangkok next weekend and to being away from Dubai. It is only two days but I need the change of scenery and Tai and I get to fly together - albeit in Etihad - which is about AED1,000 cheaper than Emirates and that makes a big difference. 7 January 2008 Tai is on her way home rather late from foggy Shanghai. I did a 14 hour day at work and need a sleep. *********************** Big grief down under where the Indians and Australian cricketers are throwing their handbags at eachother. By all accounts the Aussies behaviour in the last test was dire. Meanwhile calling a competitor a monkey is abuse beyond the normal sledging and chat of a test match. It is hard to imagine the famously abusive Australians making such a fuss about a simple verbal abuse. India has now flexed its political muscle last night by suspending their tour of Australia, threatening to call its players home unless Harbhajan Singh's ban for racial abuse is overturned. With millions of dollars in revenue at stake, Cricket Australia is desperate to negotiate a truce so the remaining two Tests can proceed. The cricket will go on. The TV networks demand it. Some very average umpiring has only made matters worse. There is talk if conspiracy theories. But in the end it appears that India were as sore losers as Australia were graceless winners. 5 January 2008 A picture from this afternoon to cheer me up!
***************** Not feeling like this is a great start to what should be a special year. The concerns are with work not personal. But inevitably what happens on the work front could impact my personal dreams and hopes. I committed to being with Tai in Dubai. And I need the work to support that commitment. All I can do is persevere - that was Alex's encouragement. 4 January 2008 There is a very strange message when I try to book a Singapore Airlines flight online - "The page you are trying to access is temporarily blocked. Please try again from another window/instance of your Internet browser." Does anyone know the meaning? Who is blocking this page? ************************ Alex is safely back in Hong Kong and Tai has been to snowy Vienna and back since I last wrote here. Work has started in earnest for the new year and will be busy. There is so much potential in the company - a great industry to be in at the right time. It is simply a matter of how we manage the growth and ensure the quality. There will be many challenges. ***************** While Alex was here we did have a nice evening at Global Village before the new year. It does not seem as big as last year's event; the fireworks were missing. And as always it is basically another shopping mall. But we enjoyed the Indian, Thai and Vietnam pavilions. There is plenty to eat. There is now a nice water/canal feature running through the village grounds. And of course the fun fair is still there. The Chinese pavilion had some interesting items for sale - from teletubbies to fancy dress! There is a European pavilion - but it is entirely Turkish. The British pavilion has gone. No loss ! It is a nice way to spend an evening. Take your wallet and a sense of humour. ***************** Construction carries on all around Falcon. It is Friday morning, They have been pumping concrete on the next door car park building site since yesterday evening. And intermittent hammering and honking of horns to make sure that I woke up twice in the night. They really do need to have proper laws on construction here. The 24/7 building permits make residents' lives a misery. 1 January 2008 A rather strange new year - not helped by a bit of a stomach bug so I passed on a great looking Thai dinner with Tai and her friends at Millennium last night. The good news is that Alex appeared to eat enough for both of us. We should probably have stayed at Millennium, opened some champagne and watched the fireworks from the window. But everyone wanted to go and see the fireworks at the creek so we crawled along in bad traffic and got to the creek just before midnight. The trouble is so did everyone else in Dubai who was not at a private party. So our group was split up as we looked for parking. As for the private parties - Dubai takes these to excess and the prices are similarly excessive. US$1,000 for new year with the gypsy kings being one example. We did not see much of the fireworks, which did not appear to last long anyway. And we navigated our way back to Falcon Tower after a very sober new year. Tai's new year's resolution - well one of - is not to be in Dubai next new year. I understand why. That's fine - as long as we can spend the new year together. 31 December 2007 The end of another year brings with it a sense of sadness and excitement. More in 2008. I hope you all have a happy and peaceful new year and that there is someone close to you at the new year to say I love you. Take care of eachother. |
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