Monday, January 09, 2006

First Class

I've got a few things to blog about, but let me just blog this: Unfortunately we didn't get upgraded to first class on our most recent trip to Singapore (last year we got business all the way which spoiled us), but this guy did: The New Digital Life

People are leaving comments and blogging about the totally digital nature of things and that's why he got upgraded. While his ability to be online made things easier for him since he could watch HBO and determine exactly when his flight would arrive, I don't believe that's why he got upgraded. Forget about the digital life, it's simply because he was nice.

It's amazing what being kind and appreciative will get you in this world. I actually had a similar experience a few years ago at San Jose airport where our plane had mechanical difficulties and we got delayed. We were stuck in SJC for hours, but we were nice enough to the gate agents. They had given everyone meal vouchers. Since we had been chit chatting with the gate agents for a while, we got them some food, drinks, and ice cream in addition to what we got ourselves. Lo and behold, when we were finally able to leave, those same agents gave us first class.

So I'd love to be able to surf the web wherever I am and use vital information like this person got about his next flight, but I guarantee you that it wasn't the flight info that got him his flight...it was the fact that he was nice enough to buy the gate agent a burger.

Nuff said.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Double Shot

So before my decision to cut out sodas, I was drinking quite a bit while in Singapore. The heat and all the walking around just makes one thirsty. Usually, I love all the local juices there, but on this trip, for some reason I was drinking of a lot of soda.

So when we headed off to Malaysia for a day trip, I found this interesting drink. Now, I'm not a Pepsi lover. In fact, I wasn't even in the mood to drink anything, but this can caught my attention. What kind of Pepsi is this?!

Obviously, the bottom of the can tells you that it's a coffee flavored cola. The main reason this got me interested is because in addition to soda, while in Singapore, I had been drinking a lot of the local hot coffee and teas. The word "tarik" actually means "Pull" in Malay and is used to refer to local tea: Teh Tarik. It actually means "Pulled Tea" since the person who makes it pours it from one jug to another several times and it actually looks like he's pulling the tea from one to the other.

Anyways, I guess Pepsi decided to use this local term with their brand-name. Thus this strange brew of Pepsi and Coffee. How did it taste? Like old cola. Actually, it tasted like this local India cola called Sosyo which has a slightly spicy flavor to. It didn't actually taste bad or anything, but it didn't taste like cola or coffee. Just something wierd.

So the further reason I just had to drink this (besides the name) is that while on the plan over to Singapore I actually read that Coke is going to be releasing a coffee flavored cola in France, called Blak. Anyone who knows me, knows I loves me some strong coffee so I figured the Pepsi Tarik could serve as a substitute for the Coke version.

Anyways, don't waste your time with this stuff. Sometimes, things just shouldn't be mixed. Coffee and Cola may sound nasty, it may good. But for the most part, it tastes blah.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Transit Visa This!

Aah, Singapore, such great shopping to be had in such a compact place. Usually the shopping is reserved for my wife, but on this trip I actually spent a little money on myself. Shoes, shirts, and one really expensive thing.

So what could I have needed so much that I just had to get it while in Singapore? What else but a transit visa, of course! Not for Singapore or Malaysia; American citizens, along with citizens of most countries are given short visit visas on the spot while entering the country. But little did I know, my layover in Beijing would require a Chinese transit visa. How Stupid!

I actually didn't even know about the visa requirement until a very nice Singapore Airlines employees wondered aloud whether I would need a visa. She spent about 15 minutes looking it up but could find nothing specific to Beijing. She could find an exception for Shanghai, but nothing for Beijing. So she recommended I check with the Chinese embassy just to be sure. So I checked both the Chinese & US Embassy websites along with some other travel sites. All of them stated that American citizens need visas. On top of the that, the Chinese Embassy website went to the lengths to specifically state that citizens of every country EXCEPT the USA and UK are not required to have transit visas, but that Americans and Britons are required to obtain visas even when just transitting through the airport, EVEN when not leaving the plane!!!

Alas, I had to get a Visa from the Chinese Embassy in Singapore. But I mentioned how I spent a ton of money on the visa right? Well, in addition to sticking it to Americans and Britons, China shoves that stick further up our asses by requiring Americans to pay waaaay more for all visas than citizens of any other country in the world! There's no special transit visa, just a general visa. And the cost? 140 Singapore dollars! Now, being nice, the Chinese government would have let me stay in the country up to 90 days, but what the hell am I going to do with that? My layover is 7 hours and I just want to get home! So not only do I have to go the damned embassy at the last minute, I have to wait in line (thankfully not very long), come back again to pick up my updated passport. So with the S$140 visa, plus cab fares (since the Embassy isn't easily reachable from our place), I'm out almost US$100!

And here's proof of all this:

Yeah, stick it to me!A receipt

Purty Stickered Chinese VisaA cool looking Visa sticker, which is completely useless now since my one entry was used when I transited through the Beijing.

So anyways, I hoped to at least have a chance to take a quick touristy tour of Beijing while stuck there. Afterall, many countries understand the huge influx of cash that tourists can bring into the country even if they're just there for a few hours. Heck, that's one of the reasons Singapore is such a huge airline hub. The country wants every tourist dollar it can get. It's basically free money. But nope, not China. There's nothing like a tour offered. Besides, it was foggy beyond belief while we were there, so a tour would have been useless. We couldn't even see the 747 outside of the gate window, I doubt we could have seen anything of interest on a tour bus.

So we made the best of it and walked around the airport terminal a few times. And here's what I came away with:

Terra Cotta WarriorsSome really real looking, yet fake terra cotta warriors.

Colorful cigarettesApparently colorful cigarettes are popular in China.

Orange CigarettesAnd so are orange flavored cigarettes. Of course, both of these types of cigs look to be foreign, so I'm guessing that some other country besides China likes such cigarettes.

Abercrombie and TITCHTypos occur often enough, but here's a case where the typo got through after 2 layers of checks while the t-shirt was made and while the ice cream poster wad made. So anyways, here's an ice cream freezer with a very happy chick wearing an Abercrombie and TITCH t-shirt.

StarbucksAnd yes, there's even Starbucks in China. Of course, it's been in the news lately since they won a lawsuit against a local coffee brewer. I didn't know about the case at the time, so finding a Starbucks in the airport was sort of surprising, but not really. Anyways, we got some sleep at the gate for a while, but got tired of it all so we hung out in Starbucks for a couple of hours. BTW, the Starbucks was the only place where all of the employees spoke pretty good english.

Oh, I should mention that I don't expect everyone in the world to speak Englsh, just the typical languages they would expect to hear. So in the US, English is a must. In Singapore, at least 2 of the 4 official languages should be a must. In India, Hindi (in the north), Tamil (in the south), and English (in the major cities) is a must.

Anyways, my useless "trip" to China yielded a few photos and one long blog posting. Hope you enjoyed.

Happy New Year!

Let's all welcome 2006 with a nice cheer. Okay, okay, I know I'm a bit late on this. I've been busy getting back to humdrum life after returning from Singapore. I've also been busy rehabilitating my dog.

Seen here in his apparently happier days. Oh don't worry, there's nothing physically wrong with him, he's just depressed. We left him with a friend while we were away and he loved staying there since he had three other dogs to play with all day. On top of that he got lots of treats and juicy meat every day. Alas, Junior has left his vacation and must return to his hum drum life of being a loyal, yet lonely dog. So my wife and I have been slowly getting him back to his normal self.

Ahh yes, the question you're asking yourself (out loud by now, I'm sure): What's my resolution?

Well, the continuing resolution is to start a family.

Coke LightAnd remember this photo? I'm swearing off it this year. Well, not just Coke, but soda in general along with fake juices. I don't exactly drink tons of soda, but I figure it's something good to cut out since I usually drink it when water would suffice just fine.

So there you go. My belated New Year's post. Oh and don't worry, I'm still going to inflict the general public with more Singaporean musings. I've yet to go through all of my photos and there are certainly some interesting and humourous photos you'll want to see. I'll try to limit the number of posts, but don't think you can get away without hearing more about Singapore!