Welcome to rascott.com.
This is a personal site that reflects my interests in news, current affairs, aviation and travel.
email me at robert@rascott.com
Photo Albums
My
photographs have been moved off this site and are now stored on Picasa. They
were simply taking up too much space on my web host.
Please use this link to see my list of photo albums.
Some
Useful links:
Information:
World Time Clock
Exchange Rates
Journalism:
Nationsonline.org
Project Syndicate
Amnesty International
Reporters w/o borders
The Guardian - UK
BBC World News
CNN Asia
Bangkok Post
Daylife.com - news
Gulf News
Arabian Business
Good causes:
Sister
Joan - Bangkok
Regional Info:
BKK Magazine
HK Magazine
In
Singapore Magazine
TimeOut Dubai
Travel:
Circle of Asia
Tales of Asia
Smart Travel Asia
Finance:
FinanceAsia
Aviation:
Amadeus (airline
schedules)
Airliners
- aviation forum
Thailand Info
thailand.com
learningthai.com
sawadee.com
bangkok a-z
Back in the UK:
Newton Ferrers
Government:
The
"new" White House
And for fun:
Lin Ping live panda tv
EarthCam
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
Thai Girl The exotic
adventures of a literary sexagenarian.
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. CrankyFlier - mainly US commentary
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 married to Tai.
If you want to know more you only need to ask! ask.
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28 February 2009 As rain comes to San Francisco this evening it is time to get away - but only as far as freezing cold New York. *********************** It opened on 27 May 1937 - so it is exactly 20 years older than me. Depressing statistic - 3,000 people have tried to commit suicide from the bridge - only 18 have survived the jump and the water. 27 February 2009 Midnight - and someone is playing the star bangled banner on the trumpet outside the hotel! I dont feel safe in this city - had to go for a walk about 10pm to find some food to bring back to the hotel. Outside every restaurant, convenience and fast food store there are street people asking for money - some peacefully; some aggressively. ************************* ************************** It is good to get away from Vegas. I do not like that city. The casinos are depressing. They are also the only indoor venues that continue to allow smoking and the smoke gets everywhere - especially into the surrounding bars and restaurants. The casinos also look old - dark - dreary. They are timeless in the worst possible way. We stayed at the Signature - by MGM. A non gambling, non smoking three tower block of apartments attached to the MGM by a walkway. Large suites rather than standard rooms and very comfortable. Shame about the daft resort fee that is charged in addition to the room cost. **************************** It was Tai's birthday yesterday ! Dinner at Mona Lisa in North Beach (San Francisco's Little Italy) in the evening - after her three hour pre dinner sleep !!! And Dim Sum in Chinatown in the morning. 25 February 2009 Yesterday was a day of Vegas extremes. A morning drive to Red Rock Canyon - on a cool sunny morning this was a back to nature escape from Vegas. And then the quite depressing Zumanity in the evening - which was a reminder of all that is bad about Vegas - the wish to extract every last dollar from visitors for the minimal of effort, thought or entertainment value. 24 February 2009 We drove and walked around Vegas yesterday - and had planned to go out. But we were asleep by 6pm. And someone did not set the alarm properly!! It will go off at 8.30am instead! Next thing I knew it was 10.30pm and after that it was 2.15am! So up again at 4.30am ! And no night out and no dinner ! **************************** A few Vegas pics:
23 February 2009 Wish I could sleep. Yesterday I was up at 4am - and got through the day until about 10.30pm - but then woke at 1.30am - and have been awake since ! Am hungry too. Tai fell asleep at 8.00pm while watching the Oscars - saved having to listen to Kate Winslet gushing ! Better than her Golden Globes acceptance speech! ************************ 22 February 2009 Two days of grey sky and showers in California. And now we are in Las Vegas....and it is cold and grey here! ************************** Another very solid blog from Khi Kwai: http://khikwai.com/blog/2009/02/22/dont-call-me-daughter/ **************************** Jim Cuddy summed up the place and the audience in one sentence as the band emerged for its encore: "My! what nice people you all are; if we could afford to, we would move here!" **************************** A retirement home for prosperous greying hippies - that's Santa Barbara! **************************** **************************** It was mainly a middle aged local audience; many of whom attend a whole series of concerts of which this was a part. So many would not have been familiar with Blue Rodeo. Bums remained firmly in seats. No one told the audience that they could stand and dance or sing or even clap along! The concert finished with a strong encore supported by Tim Easton of Lost Together. Highlights - Cynthia, Bad Timing, 5 Days in May, Trust Yourself, Hasn't Hit me Yet. The first concert review on the Blue Rodeo web site: "Whoa, Blue Rodeo, you guys took me way back to your few other shows I've been to: Oakville in the 80s, Jock Hardy area at Queen's in the 90s, Central Park for Canada a few years ago. This was hands down the tightest, best performance I've seen. Fitting the locale, you guys have aged like a fine California wine. So much I could say, but one way to summarize is that you guys are consummate pros. How lucky we were to see you in little Santa Barbara. Hope the dead crowd wont keep you from coming back -- we few punchy Canadians were outnumbered by the greying hippies (including the sound sleeper in the front row), but hopefully we overcame them with our sing alongs and calls. Thank you thank you thank you." Actually Tai was asleep for a while as well - jet lag !!!! She enjoyed the concert - I think! 21 February 2009 I would have made a dreadful flight attendant. I am not patient enough. And jet lag kills me. It is 3.20 and I am sitting on the bathroom floor in our Santa Barbara hotel typing this. Have been wide awake since 12.15am ! After about 4 hours deep sleep. The flight from Dubai to Los Angeles is just under 16 hours!. Only middle seats were available; the flight was about 95% full. Then we picked up a car in LAX and drive to Venice Beach; then up the Pacific Coastal Highway - slow after a bad accident; and then to Santa Barbara. I had not slept on the plane and with a 12 hour time difference driving was hard ! We arrived at the hotel about 7pm - about 25 hours after leaving home in Dubai! Emirates new 777-200LR's have the latest widescreen ICE system. This month includes all 13 episodes from the first series of MadMen. 18 February 2009 Strange day. 16 February 2009 There will be a fall-out from the Dubai ban on Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer. Part of the problem was that it was only at the final hour that the authorities denied her the visa; so all the other players were gathering in Dubai and it would be impossible to alter the tournament arrangements or for other players to take any action of their own. The New York Times writes today : "Just like that, the glitter and promise of Dubai as an emerging international sports center evaporated into the cool desert night" and concludes that "Tennis should finish its business in the gulf this month, and say bye-bye, Dubai." 15 February 2009 This is just brilliant - from the 20/20 test in between Australia and New Zealand this morning! Watch ! Update - sadly you cant watch it as YouTube had to remove it after a copyright claim by Cricket Australia. Stupid really - it is action like this that can sell people on going to watch cricket! **************************** **************************** ***************************** ***************************** ***************************** Interesting story - doubt that will run in the local papers. 14 February 2009 Virgin Atlantic is 25 years old. I remember flying on their first 747 - Maiden Voyager - as she flew from Gatwick to NewYork - that was in 1985 when I joined Reuters ! And this is one of their celebratory ads. Look out for 25 year old mobile phones and some dodgy haircuts. And the music is a spin off from Frankie goes to Hollywood - relax. Which most people assumed was a song about how to give a b**w job ! ******************************** Happy Valentines Day ! Always out to make a buck - the Hong Kong restaurants were doing Valentines Dinner on two nights - both the 13th and the 14th !! Creative? Alex and I were in Pizza Express at Stanley - and they offered my 11 year old boy and I the special Valentine menu????? We settled for the Peking Duck pizza. Good. ***************************** Am now back in Dubai after a long overnight haul from Hong Kong. 12 February 2009 I had forgotten how humid Hong Kong can be - even at midnight. It is so nice to be able to walk out of the building I am staying in and simply go for a walk - to the 7/11 or over to Victoria Park. I cant do this in Dubai and it is one of the most depressing things about the buildings that Tai and I stay in. Had a nice dinner at the Peak Cafe with Alex. He is good company and had lots to chat about. There are some pictures already on my facebook profile. Hong Kong evolves more than it changes. The basic infrastructure does not change. Stores change. Restaurants change. There is some more reclamation. The old star ferry terminal has been demolished. That is sad. But there is no change in the buzz, energy, smells, strange fashions, elderly garbage collectors, late night openings, street foods, late night noodles, clanking trams for HK$2 a ride, chattering mobiles, 24hr 7-11s on every street....I still feel like I am at home when I am here. 11 February 2009 Tai and I flew East and West today; I am on the way to Hong Kong and Tai had a 16 hour and 15 minute non stop to Los Angeles. That is a tough flight. **************************** I wonder just how bad the Dubai economy is. I had a fairly depressing meeting with a recruiter yesterday. Yes there are still some people recruiting; but the overwhelming trend is of further redundancies. And Emirates is something of a bellweather for the state of the economy. And Emirates has suspended both recruiting and crew upgrade courses and has not said when recruitment will start again. Times are tough. 9 February 2009 A job well done - Capt Sullenberger earlier today: "I needed the wings exactly level at touchdown. I needed to make the rate of descent survivable. I needed to touch down at a nose-up attitude. And I needed to touch down just above our minimum flying speed. And all those needed to occur simultaneously." ***************************** Tai and I went to explore the Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residences. On a cool evening this is a nice place to stroll. Lots of cafes and restaurants with outside seating. But I wonder whether the same crowds will be there in mid summer when an air conditioned mall is so much more appealing. 8 February 2009 The Thaksin Parable - this is good stuff! 7 February 2009 A blast from the past ! They dont make them like this anymore ! ****************************** Had a nice day out yesterday with Tai and some of her Emirates friends - we drove over to the Sandy Bay hotel at Fujairah. The aptly named Snoopy Island is just off shore - and the resort has a nice sandy beach. Beware of some washed up garbage and the occasional broken glass - sadly. But it is better than most other UAE beaches. Food from the restaurant is nothing special. But we sat outside on the terrace looking over the ocean and it was very pleasant. An easy drive - with the usual stop at the Masafi market. There are some pictures already on Facebook and I will put some onto this site soon. *************************** How does the England cricket side get bowled out for 51 against the West Indies, one of the weakest test sides. Feeble. From the Guardian: "England have recorded the third-lowest score in their Test history. It is nothing short of abject humiliation, probably their most embarrassing defeat since they were bowled out twice in double figures in Christchurch in 1983-84." My theory - bring the whole team home and send out a new squad of cricketers that want to play for England rather than spend their time talking to their agents about their IPL fees. *************************** Dual pricing is all the rage in Thailand - and even applies to police fines for exactly the same alleged crime. The today page mentions the group caught in the act this week in a Bangkok hotel. The cosmopolitan 'swingers' from the USA, Australia, France, China, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, namely 13 foreign men and three foreign women had to pay pay Bt 500-1000 each for the inconvenience while the seven Thai women paid a mere Bt200. **************************** This is fun: http://www.saverjet.com/index.html A spoof from New Zealand on the joys of low cost air travel. Reminds me of trying to get back from Thailand on Thai Air Asia; currently my least favorite airline. No they never did reply to my letter. But this "tongue-in-cheek" advertising campaign
created by Air New Zealand lampooning budget carriers has been labelled a
waste of taxpayers' money by opposition airlines. And if you are really bored today: http://www.skyhighairlines.com/main.asp 5 February 2009 A friend of ours confessed today to having seen Mr. Thaksin two times in the mall of the Emirates with family members. She is too polite to say hallo. I want her to invite him for dinner....there is a lot to ask him ***************************** Pakistan and Australia have reportedly
agreed to play five one-dayers and a Twenty20 game in the UAE in April and
May. 4 February 2009 Facebook is 5 years old today. ****************************** Tai is on her way to Manchester. Brrrr. ****************************** The International Press Institute has produced its 2008 Press Freedom Review. This is the link to the Thailand page. It does not make for good reading..... 1 February 2009 Given the huge sums now at stake the wider use of technology in football is inevitable and necessary. It will slow the game down but it is needed so that bad decisions can be over-ruled by tv review. ******************************** 19 year old Northern Ireland golfer Rory McIlroy won the Dubai Desert Classic. A tense finish for his first tournament win. He has great talent - and is already being built up as the new Tiger Woods. He is also sponsored by Jumeirah so it was a bit of a win for the home team. *********************************** Are EK slowing recruitment? The BKK February recruitment has been cancelled.
ANNOUCEMENT ************************************ My late night entertainment - film did not start on TCM until 2am ! So much fun to see how we used to fly !
There are so many continuity and plot problems in this film - worse than that - just big mistakes ! My favourite - after going through prolonged labor during which her makeup smears and her hair becomes matted, a woman who has just given birth minutes before during a hijacking leaves the plane flawlessly made up and with her hair perfectly styled. The flight attendant walks off carrying the new borne! As for the Russian fighters - they are American Sabres! 31 January 2009 Tai is on her way to Nice. That must be nice for her. Somewhere new and by the sea. I was planning to go but am not quite well enough to sit on another airplane for 7 hours. So the best I can do is look at the Nice webcam. It is 12C and overcast. Very very quiet in Dubai. Even went back to be this morning to catch up on some sleep ! 30 January 2009 Very foggy in Dubai at 5am so we diverted to Muscat - after a high powered go-around in Dubai. Just over two hours on the plane in Muscat before we could head back to Dubai. The flight was pretty grim - the large chap next to be should have booked his seat and mine. It is easy to see why people get upset on an airplane. Cramped and confined to a middle seat with Tai trying to sleep on one side of me and the guy invading my space on the other side. The seat in front reclines and that feeling of claustrophobia is real. There were problems on this flight - with passengers yelling at eachother about reclining seats. The crew were having a tough time. One (typical isnt it?) English guy vented at the purser while we were on the ground in Muscat. He was upset with everything from the woman in front putting her seat back, to the diversion, to no legroom. But his language and behaviour were those of a thug who drank to much. I would have thrown him off the flight. The purser put up with some appalling language. My suspicion is that some of the EK pursers are concerned of being reported by the passengers and then not being supported by EK management. I hope I am wrong. **************************** Miss Bam is the first of Tai's group of friends to graduate as first class crew - only 27 months after joining Emirates. Impressively fast promotion. My forecast - she will go onto SFS and Purser. 29 January 2009 Sad to see that the Japanese have started using capital punishment with enthusiasm. Today’s executions bring to six the number of inmates hanged since Prime Minister Taro Aso took office on September 24. Six too many. **************************** Anyone want to know how my week has been: Lets start with what
I hope is a joke ! A proctologist just finished examining a
patient and said "good The nurse sees that he is trying to write with his rectal thermometer and informs the doctor of his mistake. He exclaims "darn, some asshole stole my pen!" Thanks Dennis! Proctologists I was reminded have been the butt of many jokes. The week has been a bit of a bummer; lots of standing around; sitting is not good; nor is something that rhymes with sitting come to think of it! And enough antibiotics to mean no booze; not even a glass of wine! 26 January 2009 Arrived in Bangkok today thanks to Cathay Pacific 750 from Dubai via Mumbai. There was something nostalgic about flying CX and on this route. I have not flown CX since APR visits to Vancouver ended in 2006. But I used to fly on 751/750 regularly from HKG to Mumbai back in the mid 1990s. Cathay is still one of the better airlines; but the signs of cost cutting are there. ***************************** There is a damning analysis of the Abhisit government here. A short extract: "The catastrophic, shameful performance of Mr. Abhisit’s cabinet has rendered it clear to anyone paying attention that the cries for a cleaner, more honest government that accompanied his rise to power were a fraud. To be sure, Thaksin Shinawatra’s government had an abominable human rights record. But, unlike Mr. Abhisit, Thaksin came to power through legitimate means, not by trampling all over whatever was left of the country’s democracy. Unlike Mr. Abhisit, Thaksin’s power was grounded in a decisive popular mandate, not the commands of a tiny, unaccountable elite wielding enormous extra-legal power. And, for all his faults, Thaksin never was the groveling, slobbering bootlicker the new Prime Minister has shown himself to be. So what was the point of all this, if not merely to substitute the will of the weak and dispossessed for that of the rich and the powerful?" The article concludes that : "Now more transparently than ever, Abhisit is nothing more than the handsome face of a loathsome dictatorial regime." You wont find this sort of analysis in the fawning Thai media but it is good to know that there are still loud voices who recognise right and wrong.
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25 January 2009 A rare visit to Terminal 1. I have not been here since Emirate moved to their new terminal. Terminal 1 is now used by the rest ! All the planes that would have previously been on a remote stand. We have a Cathay Pacific 747 taking us to Mumbai and Bangkok tonight. There is a Delta flight heading to Atlanta and United to Chicago. KLM just landed from Amsterdam; a collection of GCC, India and Pakistan flights and some more exotic destinations such as Astana and Almaty. 24 January 2009 Bad day. After a good week and a good trip to the UK there is tension in the air back in Dubai. Tai has now gone to Bangkok; but the distance feels greater than a 6 hour flight. ************************** Its 1.00am in Dubai - back in Danville California - US Air Captain Sullenberger is being honoured in his hometown. Sky News is showing the ceremony live; CNN is not. Danville is a small town !! Captain Sullenberger looks like he would be happier in uniform. Guess he is still not flying while the NTSB completes its investigations. They recovered the second of the engines from the Hudson earlier today. There are a lot of white folks in Danville !! Among the awards - the captain is now an honorary Danville police officer! How about an exemption from all future speeding tickets and parking fines !! 40 minutes of thanks and praise - and our captain is introduced; his very brief statement was a thank you to an experienced crew and that they were simply doing the job that we were trained to do. A couple of sentences and a 30 second speech. The investigation is ongoing so I guess there are some things that he cannot say. 22 January 2009 It is my Mum's birthday today ! Happy birthday !! *************************** It has been a fun couple of days. Tai and I met at her hotel in Birmingham and went out to visit Bournville and see my old home, and follow my walk to my primary school, and wander past the Cadbury factory. The folks at the Cadbury visitor office were very welcoming. Everyone who worked with my Dad would have retired by now. But the place really was how I remembered it. Albeit it feels smaller now. Much of Birmingham has been rebuilt. Huge inner city development. And much of it has been well done. The new Bull Ring Mall is not so new - it is 10 years old now - but feels modern. And the new Mailbox complex is well done. Old canal side warehouses converted into stores, canal side restaurants, bars and apartments and also the new home of BBC Birmingham. we had a nice dinner at the Spanish restaurant there. The walk home in cold driving rain was bracing and a good reminder of how bleak England can be! ************************** Nice crew looking after us back to Dubai tonight. Tai is working away in Business Class. And has a special guest to look after. The CEO of the Emirates Group, Tim Clark. *************************** On the how bad are things picture - Microsoft announced 5,000 job cuts - including 1,400 immediately. 21 January 2009 Something different. A Virgin Train. It has been a very long time since I last took a train from London to Birmingham! The trains are nicer now. Modern fittings. Power sockets. Quicker than they used to be as well. Train is too hot! Just heading past the new Wembley stadium. Wow - it is so different! To be honest - it looks out of place - surrounded by all the red-tiled homes of suburbia. Just stopped at Watford Junction - that's a bit strange when the first stop is supposed to be Coventry! The sun is shining today. Still very cold! England looks nice under a winter sun. Just gone through Hemel Hempstead! Redbourn is nearby. *************************** I had a good long walk around London yesterday. From Gloucester Rd to South Kensington, to the Victoria and Albert and the Science Museums. Across Kensington Gardens to Lancaster Gate. Subway to Bond Street; walk along Oxford Street and Regent Street through Piccadilly to the Trafalgar Square and the National Portrait Gallery. And back on the subway through Knightsbridge. Nothing really changes much! The store names may change. The infrastructure changes very little. ***************************** If the earth moved for you last night you can call it "hope sex." This is a wave of excitable shagging apparently triggered by the breathless anticipation of better times ahead. I guess this makes up for 9/11 - when the increased in sexual activity was armageddon or apocalypse sex. Hope sex has been in vogue in America since election day last year. Colleagues, exes, even spouses have all been enjoying this near revolution. It is helped by the fact that the Obamas are a good looking couple that are clearly into eachother. The UK equivalent at the moment is "no-hope sex." This is recession sex. People cannot afford to go out. So they stay in and make do with what they have. But no fantasising about the Browns will help ! 20 January 2009 OBAMA DAY ! ******************************* With all the bad news from Thailand it is good to see that the advertisers have kept their sense of humour! ******************************* Obama is a smoker! Guess he will have to keep popping out of the West Wing for a quick smoke. So much for the sportsman image ! ******************************** Tai has been delayed in Calcutta for over 24 hours as their plane developed a hydraulics problem. So she may not be home in time to come to Birmingham tomorrow - which would make my visit here rather useless as we were going to explore Birmingham and Bournville tomorrow afternoon! 19 January 2009 On Saturday, President-elect Barack Obama personally invited the Sullenbergers -- and the plane's entire crew -- to come to Washington for the inauguration -- and to fly aboard Air Force One sometime. Sully Sullenberger was the US AIrways captain who put his stricken Airbus safely onto the Hudson River. America loves heroes. And right now - with financial meltdown and massive job losses - Mr. Sullenberger is a real hero. I hope he accepts the invitation. It will be a massive celebration and what a great reward - to be in the front row of history. The five crew members are: Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, first officer and co-pilot Jeff Skiles, and flight attendants Sheila Dail, Doreen Welsh and Donna Dent. 18 January 2009 Tai is in Calcutta for the night - which reminds me of my Dad taking my Mum as a special treat many many years ago to see the stage show Oh Calcutta in London. My Dad was a great man but knew little about the theatre - he was also rather conservative and had not realised that Oh Calcutta was a naked review managed by the porn impresario Paul Raymond. They walked out at the interval and headed home. I think my Dad was expecting A Passage to India ! 17 January 2009 The Hudson River looked a bit different in 1939: this Canadian Colonial Airways passenger plane is flying over the George Washington Bridge as it flies up the Hudson River on route to Montreal, Canada.
****************************** US Air's share price shot up 13 percent Friday. ******************************* Useless but entertaining fact from Die Welt in Germany: Sexual intercourse takes place about 2,778 times around the world every 5 seconds. They also noted that : human sperm has more than 30 ingredients. These include fructose, ascorbic acid, cholesterol, citric acid, nitrogen, vitamin B12 and a whole lot of salt and enzymes: and that the country where the most oral sex is performed is Austria. Apparently three out of four men fantasise about their work colleagues (guess they never met my old work colleagues!!!). In an international survey Germans ranked as the worst lovers in the world becuase they only think about their own pleasure in bed. Also not too popular were Turks (too sweaty), Swedes (too quick), Dutch (too rough), Americans (too dominating), British (too fat) and Russians (too hairy). The winners, again, were the Italians. Finally and grossly men average 7,200 orgasms in their live (of which 2,000 are self induced) and if one takes into consideration that the average ejaculation produces between one and two teaspoons of sperm, 7,200 ejaculations will give you 53 litres of sperm. Yuck ! And with a nod to my friends at Emirates - 19 percent of Germans think female flight attendants are hot. And for the new sensitive male - men who help with housework have better sex. 16 January 2009 As a wise friend rightly pointed out there are certain advantages in traveling first class....so before the travel budget gets cut too much consider this pic from today's USAir Hudson River landing ! And if you cant fly first class do at least watch the safety video.
******************************** Michael Palin is right - "Times are hard, but we must resist the temptation to stay at home, pull up the drawbridge and look after number one. The economic crisis, this time around, is global. And to understand it we need, more than ever, to keep in touch with the rest of the world, to see how others are coping and hopefully to learn something along the way." From his latest newsletter ! And the best travelers are curious, they listen, learn, and write about a love of the world clearly and with feeling. Eating helps ! **************************** Next week's plans include a 24 hour trip to Birmingham to show Tai where I lived for the first ten years of my life - and a walk down Beech Road to my old primary school ! And with the joys of the internet you can see it all here - it must have been a lovely summer day when they took the picture as you can see the cricketers gathered on teh Cadbury pitch! Amazing that the Rowheath playing field has been largely preserved - I thought that would be covered in houses by now! 15 January 2009 Tai and I were out with two of our Emirates friends a couple of nights ago. The were telling us about their New Year's Eve visit to London where they went to join the festivities in Trafalgar Square. This should be a happy and fun time. But for girls traveling together it appears to be threatening and dangerous. Both reported that groups of men would be walking around trying to molest any girl they could get there hands on - including grabbing their breasts. When they protested and shouted to them to stop - they were told relax, have fun, its the New Year. I am sorry - but assault is assault whatever time and date it takes place. I feel bad for our friends; the crowds are too big to be effectively policed. But New Year's Eve is not an excuse to break all the rules of decency and respectful behaviour. *************************** Another sad event in Thailand - but bizarre really. Thai trains do not speed. They crawl. So how the driver and the students did not see the train coming is a mystery. "even students were killed and many others
were injured when their vehicle was cut into two by a speeding train
Wednesday afternoon. 13 January 2009 Dubai does have a role model for much that it has done - the role model - and competitor is called Singapore. The city state's population was 1.6 million in 1960 and has grown to 4.8 million, giving it one of the world's highest population densities. Planners project a further 40 percent growth by midcentury, to 6.5 million. To make more space, neighborhoods are razed, landmarks are sacrificed and cemeteries - an inefficient use of land - are cleared away, the buried remains cremated and placed in vaults. In its most ambitious development project, Singapore has simply made itself bigger. In 1957 its land area was 581 square kilometers, or 224 square miles. Since then vast amounts of landfill, dumped into the sea, have expanded it by more than one-third, to 775 square kilometers. 11 January 2009 For my Toronto readers or anyone flying there in the next week here is a must attend event: War Child Canada is excited to announce another exceptional night of music, An Evening with Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo, which will take place at The Dakota Tavern in Toronto on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. This special night will be the third Dakota Nights for War Child benefit, a unique monthly concert series featuring very intimate performances by celebrated artists, hosted by The Dakota Tavern and War Child Canada. All proceeds from these events will go to support War Child Canada, a registered charity that provides humanitarian assistance to war-affected children in some of the most devastated regions of the world. Tickets for An Evening with Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor are $50 and can be purchased at the door on the night of the show Go. You wont be disappointed. 10 January 2009 Tai is off to Munich today - where it is currently -15C. A little bit cool ! Meanwhile the Australia vs South Africa 20-20 cricket match is on TV - and the Australians in yellow with KFC emblazoned on their shirts look like chickens ! David Warner - where did he come from. Great entertainment! **************************** Wish Ryan Giggs had been born English not Welsh. **************************** Me - headache all day. Feeling a bit down at the moment. Need inspiration! 9 January 2009 A Friday in the Souk Al Bahar, the new Italian restuarant is busy and should do well, the Dubai Mall and a visit to the beach for the sunset. Not much happening at the moment. A bit immobilised still from my ski damage ! 6 January 2009 Becks made his AC Milan debut tonight in Dubai and Milan and SV Hamburg drew 1-1 with Milan winning 5-4 on penalties. Becks played the first 45 minutes before being substituted by Flamini. *********************** ********************* 5 January 2009 A hand-cutting blanket that has been mode in Korea (sic) - sounds like the sort of gift you would not want !
*********************** I don't often give out cooking tips - but this one matters - and is for the aspiring thai food chefs ! After you have chopped up the chillies into really small pieces you really must give your hands a thorough, really thorough, wash. Cos if you don't, and you then touch some of the more sensitive parts of your anatomy, you will be in some discomfort. Not from personal experience this evening, of course ! *********************** The Daily Star newspaper web site is blocked in Dubai - but The Sun's web site is not. Strange. So I cant read the Star's story about Becks and Posh getting an apartment in the Burj Dubai. A bit too close to Executive Towers. There goes the neighbourhood! ************************ There is no sound from my TV. Disaster. 3 January 2009 Funny what you can pick up from other sites: the Singaporean XiaXue blog is fun to read occasionally - and on her recent Dallas trip she was introduced to the splendidly named Twin Peaks restaurant. There are a number of these restaurants franchised in Texas. By all accounts they make Hooters look tame. I doubt we will get a franchise here in Dubai. Shame. The golf tournament looks fun!
************************************* http://rspas.anu.edu.au/rmap/newmandala/2009/01/02/red-shirts-and-civil-disobedience/ ****************************** The UAE is a conservative place; and Emirates airline largely reflects this. So the sign on the A380 shower door is a surprise:
2 January 2009 It is so quiet today. Alex went home to HKG this morning and Tai is away for two days in Hamburg. And I am all alone. Worse still, I cant go anywhere because i damaged a calf muscle at Ski Dubai with Alex yesterday. I was distracted - and got the skis tangled. And felt the calf muscle stretch. It is very very sore. And just walking into the airport with alex today was very hard. ************************* EK were a bit of a mess at the airport this morning. It is the first Friday of the new year; it was bound to be busy. So where we were checking in only 5 out of 11 desks were open. Then we had to wait at the unaccompanied minor lounge for thirty minutes. When the girl did turn up she was sorry she kept us waiting but she kept saying how understaffed they were. *************************** No one to talk with. Not much to watch on tv. No food to eat. And cant really go out to buy anything. This is the first new year in a while when I have felt uncertain and rather depressed about the future. I should not be. But the reality is Tai likes her work and her friends and can escape Dubai every time she flies. And they are her friends. I am always aware of that when she is away. I dont have work here. Not now. Not yet. And am struggling with what I really want to do. *************************** Felt sorry for my neighbourly building labourers - even through midnight on 31 December they were working away. 1 January 2009 A tragic start to the new year in Thailand and a very low key start to the new year in Dubai means that this is not the most festive on openings to a new AOB in a new year. Indeed there is too much uncertainty right now to feel positive about anything! **************************** It was a strange new year. Fireworks and outdorr celebrations were cancelled across Dubai. There was a rolling fog off the arabian gulf around midnight so the fireworks would not have been too visible. We stayed at home and played silly card games until midnight; cooked some BBQ, some soup and some wontons; shared a nice bottle of wine. It was a fun evening and we laughed a lot. Maybe the Dubai authorities did us a favour. ******************************* There were still lots of party people stumbling into the Millennium Tower elevators. Why they felt they need to use the f*** word every other word in front of Alex (who is only 11 and still reasonably innocent) is beyond me.
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