Convincing a taxi driver to put the pedal to the metal and undertake the guy in front of you on an F1 track is possibly one of the more awesome moments of the trip so far. To be fair, he didn't need much convincing. The streets are set up as the track with grandstands and lights and safety barriers, but still open as streets until Thursday. It was a surprisingly exciting experience just being on it with the floodlights blazing.
The actual race is next weekend but the hype is really building now, and the cars are here already. As our hotel is plonked pretty much on top of the circuit, we're going to have a fairly up close experience with it. Not a great view, as they did eject us from our Harbour View upgrades on realising that we hadn't paid the million dollar surcharge for a view of the majority of the circuit, but a view nonetheless. Unforfortunately we failed at actually getting tickets. Oops. Oh well, I'll be bored after a couple of laps anyway - I expect the novelty to wear off long before lap 70 (or whatever).
I tried to take some photos of the my view of the track, but because going to on the balcony makes me feel like vomiting, and my camera isn't fantastic, the pictures are tad blurry. I can see Gate 3, but not the following corner. From my previous room I could pretty much see everything from just after Gate 3 almost to Gate 7. There was a minor error there, since that room costs just under ten times what I am paying for that weekend. Unsurprisingly I was moved.
Late at night, the bikers and boy racers are out tearing it up on the track. Hopefully tonight the cops will go out and crack down on it - it's bloody loud. Hmmm, must buy earplugs before Friday.
Ferrari crew are in our hotel - not sure if it is general people or pit crew, though the guy in my lift looked like pit crew both in build and his gear. Red Bull Racing also have people here, but not sure how many - looked like the backroom tech team.
As G said yesterday on an unrelated matter, Dublin is going to look very, very small when we get home.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Settled in?
I was supposed to be at the Night Safari. Instead I am still paying for eating in McDonalds 9 hours ago. Stupid McDonalds. I couldn't find anywhere else at the time - I was better of starving. Oh well.
Instead of spending the time usefully blogging, I watched House Online. I had a freaky moment of realising that it was just like being at home - did the ironing, felt ill, had nothing sensible around to eat (I wasn't sick enough to not be peckish), watched internet TV... A hotel room in Singapore should not feel like a flat in D6, should it? Though given that I'm going to be here for another month perhaps it should.
Also, the hotel room is probably bigger.
Instead of spending the time usefully blogging, I watched House Online. I had a freaky moment of realising that it was just like being at home - did the ironing, felt ill, had nothing sensible around to eat (I wasn't sick enough to not be peckish), watched internet TV... A hotel room in Singapore should not feel like a flat in D6, should it? Though given that I'm going to be here for another month perhaps it should.
Also, the hotel room is probably bigger.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
This isn't jet lag, this is insanity
Still awake at 2:25am. Great. It would be fine for a Saturday night if i didn't have an 8:30 meeting. Ok so the meeting is to meet to get a cab to a ferry to a beach, but still... guess I can sleep on the beach (it can't be as bad as the sleep on the beach incident in the Bahamas).
Main reason for being up so late? X-Factor. Sigh. Am addicted.
Will publish a real update on today's shopping experience in the next day or so. For now I'll just say that buying shoes here is really tough - the majority are plastic, and I rarely do not-leather; I still got three pairs today.
Watched the last half-hour of the Arsenal game. For. F***s. Sake. Think my interest in the Premiership is over already.
BTW - Singapore Idol is GALACTICALLY lame. Those kids can't sing. Tis grim.
Main reason for being up so late? X-Factor. Sigh. Am addicted.
Will publish a real update on today's shopping experience in the next day or so. For now I'll just say that buying shoes here is really tough - the majority are plastic, and I rarely do not-leather; I still got three pairs today.
Watched the last half-hour of the Arsenal game. For. F***s. Sake. Think my interest in the Premiership is over already.
BTW - Singapore Idol is GALACTICALLY lame. Those kids can't sing. Tis grim.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
I'm the worst blogger ever. We've been in work too late this week to get much done, and I only sorted my broadband last night (it's so crap, by the way, bloody mobile broadband, due bloody rip off hotel for fixed line) so haven't had much time.
It's hot. It's sticky. There are one million shops I've had no time to go to.
It's hot. It's sticky. There are one million shops I've had no time to go to.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Actually, it's not about the journey...
I made it to Singapore in one piece - despite my best efforts at self-sabotage the night before my flight! On Friday I packed up the last few items, checked and rechecked everything about 40 times and called a cab. Due to a couple of factors the taxi was quite late, adding to my stress levels - apparently an idiotic bus driver broke down at a stop but didn't bother with hazards or the warning triangle, causing other traffic to think he was just picking up at the stop & waiting for him to pull out rather than overtaking; and a power outage in Terenure knocking out all the traffic lights In the 25 minutes or so I was waiting (and getting stressed) I checked everything another 40 times. I really need to work on my OCD.
We had had some concern about the packing - Air France having a rather measly luggage allowance of 20kg. This is not a great deal of luggage for a 7 week trip involving meetings, obviously, as we need office clothes and casual clothes. In Singapore,
where you pretty much have to change everything at least once a day if you venture outside for more than five minutes, it seems even more miserly. The excess charge is an extortionate €30 per kilo, which I was anxious to avoid on the outbound trip (though it should be expensible). Due to my l33t packing skillz, I checked in at 19.3kg. I have already realised I do not have enough clothes in this. Luckily Singapore has the odd clothing store*.
I wasn't especially impressed with Air France, to be honest. The movie selection was okay, though being a Cineworld cardholder I'd seen most already, leaving me with Duplicity. Unfortunately I fell asleep halfway through and didn't wake in time to watch the rest, they cut the entertainment about 40 minutes before landing. We had quite a lot of turbulence and while I'm sure it was all fine in French the English version of the announcements was not completely intelligible. Also, even for aeroplane food I thought the cuisine pretty dismal. Luckily Singapore also has the odd restaurant. **
The hotel is fine, it's fairly unexciting. The fitness centre is a little small for a hotel of it's size - I've only been once so far (not on schedule at all) and that was before 7am, so I fear it's going to be difficult to get on machines after work - I may have to try to get there for 7 every day. Currently I have a nice harbour view but I'm being moved next week - the harbour view also grants a pretty good view of the Grand Prix circuit, so I think they've sold 'my' room for a meellion dollars to someone else.
What is incredibly frustrating is the lack of internet access. The network in the hotel is simply extortionate, at SG$600 for 30 days. I purchased an overpriced coffee in Gloria Jeans, where there is numerous free Wifi hotspots, however I cannot figure out how to connect - any other time I've used a hotspot, a login page has automatically popped up on opening a browser (like in the hotel room). Obviously I'm doing something wrong, and I understand that my expectation that things SHOULD JUST WORK in the same way as everywhere else is unreasonable, but I'm just so frustrated now that I can't be reasonable.
Another frustration is that for some reason Meteor users can't text me - since this is almost my entire family (other than the London-based brother, who is coincidentally in Bali this week) and my parents are in Spain, this is less than ideal, and somewhat inexplicable. I believe Joe is on the case but I haven't received any updates on the issue yet, and as I can't check my bloody mail, I don't know if there is any progress.
Typing the last two paragraphs has significantly increased my frustration. I'm suffering from a complete lack of connectivity. This should get sorted today, but I am not convinced of this.
I'm still a bit jet lagged and not sleeping that well, so haven't done much as yet. And I forgot to buy a camera, so have to mall-trawl for one this week. Subsequent posts should include less whinging and more actual Singapore news.
* By odd, I mean there are so many malls I don't think I'll have time to visit all of them.
** Like, millions. And then more than that.
We had had some concern about the packing - Air France having a rather measly luggage allowance of 20kg. This is not a great deal of luggage for a 7 week trip involving meetings, obviously, as we need office clothes and casual clothes. In Singapore,
where you pretty much have to change everything at least once a day if you venture outside for more than five minutes, it seems even more miserly. The excess charge is an extortionate €30 per kilo, which I was anxious to avoid on the outbound trip (though it should be expensible). Due to my l33t packing skillz, I checked in at 19.3kg. I have already realised I do not have enough clothes in this. Luckily Singapore has the odd clothing store*.
I wasn't especially impressed with Air France, to be honest. The movie selection was okay, though being a Cineworld cardholder I'd seen most already, leaving me with Duplicity. Unfortunately I fell asleep halfway through and didn't wake in time to watch the rest, they cut the entertainment about 40 minutes before landing. We had quite a lot of turbulence and while I'm sure it was all fine in French the English version of the announcements was not completely intelligible. Also, even for aeroplane food I thought the cuisine pretty dismal. Luckily Singapore also has the odd restaurant. **
The hotel is fine, it's fairly unexciting. The fitness centre is a little small for a hotel of it's size - I've only been once so far (not on schedule at all) and that was before 7am, so I fear it's going to be difficult to get on machines after work - I may have to try to get there for 7 every day. Currently I have a nice harbour view but I'm being moved next week - the harbour view also grants a pretty good view of the Grand Prix circuit, so I think they've sold 'my' room for a meellion dollars to someone else.
What is incredibly frustrating is the lack of internet access. The network in the hotel is simply extortionate, at SG$600 for 30 days. I purchased an overpriced coffee in Gloria Jeans, where there is numerous free Wifi hotspots, however I cannot figure out how to connect - any other time I've used a hotspot, a login page has automatically popped up on opening a browser (like in the hotel room). Obviously I'm doing something wrong, and I understand that my expectation that things SHOULD JUST WORK in the same way as everywhere else is unreasonable, but I'm just so frustrated now that I can't be reasonable.
Another frustration is that for some reason Meteor users can't text me - since this is almost my entire family (other than the London-based brother, who is coincidentally in Bali this week) and my parents are in Spain, this is less than ideal, and somewhat inexplicable. I believe Joe is on the case but I haven't received any updates on the issue yet, and as I can't check my bloody mail, I don't know if there is any progress.
Typing the last two paragraphs has significantly increased my frustration. I'm suffering from a complete lack of connectivity. This should get sorted today, but I am not convinced of this.
I'm still a bit jet lagged and not sleeping that well, so haven't done much as yet. And I forgot to buy a camera, so have to mall-trawl for one this week. Subsequent posts should include less whinging and more actual Singapore news.
* By odd, I mean there are so many malls I don't think I'll have time to visit all of them.
** Like, millions. And then more than that.
Monday, August 31, 2009
The Point of it All
Sometimes in work something special comes along. Or at least different. Or at least in an exotic location.
This does not happen often, but it's happening now and it is happening to me.
We are currently working on a project to deliver a particular application to a particular client - on the grounds that discussing any aspect of this might come back to bite me (I'm not risking even a 1% chance of disciplinary action in a 'challenging' environment!) I'll say no more on what it is or who it is for, other than that many of you will hopefully benefit in some way from it in the future. My role on this project is essentially to learn the system backwards, forwards and sideways so we can support the client during the acceptance test stage of the project.
Not that exciting, one might say. Until one realises that we have partnered with a firm in Singapore to deliver this application, and I now have the opportunity to go there for 7 weeks to learn the system.
Singapore. 7 weeks. 5 Star Hotel. Weekends off (based on current plan anyway!). Cheap access to Indonesian islands. SG$2 to the euro. Japanese cosmetics. 30 degrees. Looking like a giant compared to the locals. Awesome.
There are issues of course - the humidity is one million percent. Broadband access is an issue. I may look more like an elephant than a giant (popular target weight is a US 00, or so I have read). It's not a holiday. Alcohol is ludicrously expensive. Small issues in the grand scheme of things, except for the broadband.
This blog is to be a diary of my experiences in the next two months. The aforementioned broadband access might be an issue. That, and the fact that I don't own a camera - it's not going to be much of a blog without photos. How else can I show you my Japanese cosmetics? Oh and endless beaches and enormous skyscrapers and so on... I'm still most excited about the cosmetics.
So let's all keep our fingers crossed on the broadband issue, and I hope I can make this blog interesting!
This does not happen often, but it's happening now and it is happening to me.
We are currently working on a project to deliver a particular application to a particular client - on the grounds that discussing any aspect of this might come back to bite me (I'm not risking even a 1% chance of disciplinary action in a 'challenging' environment!) I'll say no more on what it is or who it is for, other than that many of you will hopefully benefit in some way from it in the future. My role on this project is essentially to learn the system backwards, forwards and sideways so we can support the client during the acceptance test stage of the project.
Not that exciting, one might say. Until one realises that we have partnered with a firm in Singapore to deliver this application, and I now have the opportunity to go there for 7 weeks to learn the system.
Singapore. 7 weeks. 5 Star Hotel. Weekends off (based on current plan anyway!). Cheap access to Indonesian islands. SG$2 to the euro. Japanese cosmetics. 30 degrees. Looking like a giant compared to the locals. Awesome.
There are issues of course - the humidity is one million percent. Broadband access is an issue. I may look more like an elephant than a giant (popular target weight is a US 00, or so I have read). It's not a holiday. Alcohol is ludicrously expensive. Small issues in the grand scheme of things, except for the broadband.
This blog is to be a diary of my experiences in the next two months. The aforementioned broadband access might be an issue. That, and the fact that I don't own a camera - it's not going to be much of a blog without photos. How else can I show you my Japanese cosmetics? Oh and endless beaches and enormous skyscrapers and so on... I'm still most excited about the cosmetics.
So let's all keep our fingers crossed on the broadband issue, and I hope I can make this blog interesting!
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