I’m now in Beijing, for a few weeks for work.  Beside the work, I will get in a bit of sightseeing and shopping on the weekends.  Yesterday after I arrived I went for a bit of an outing, to Jingshan Park, where there was all manner of activity going on, like aerobics, ballroom dancing, bands playing, games of foot shuttlecock (like badminton except they kick the shuttlecock instead of hitting it with a racket), singing groups, games of chess etc, etc.  Really very interesting!  As for shopping, I had a look around the electronics malls in Zhongguancun, near where I’m staying … several floors of cameras, computers, mobile phones and other gadgets, and if you can’t get what you want in the first mall you visit, there’s about 3 or 4 others just as big.  And then street stalls selling more gadgets.

Then there’s the important stuff, besides the work, like arranging a trip to the Great Wall on the weekend.  Or going out for lunch today and getting a heap of good food for all of $4.50 per person.

But there is a downside to being here.  No Facebook or Twitter.  You can’t access them here.

Beijing, travel, Twitter, Facebook

In a couple of hours I’ll be on a plane to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I’ve got a few days work stuff to do there, then all day Saturday to do some shopping and sightseeing before flying out very late Saturday night.

I’ve been to KL a couple of times before, and really like it.  Malaysian food = yum!

Got back yesterday from a week travelling for work to Singapore then Bangkok.  Singapore I’ve been to before, but it was my first time in Bangkok, so I stayed till Sunday night before coming home, to have a bit of a look around.  I’m glad I went, and definitely going back to Thailand is on my holiday agenda for the future.

Interesting contrasts are many in Bangkok, from the splendour of the temples and palaces, like this:

to the slums.

Not to mention the contrast between the devout Buddhism:

and the sex trade which is pretty much out in the open.

I couldn’t begin to count the number of times I was asked by a taxi or tuk tuk driver offering to take me to a massage parlour or a sex or pussy show, and walking around Patpong Road on a Saturday afternoon, having a pamphlet full of nude girls shoved in my face and asked if I wanted a girl – or on saying no to that, a boy.  30 minutes for 1,000 baht (about $30).

No, I did not take up any of those offers.  Nor did I see a ping pong show, or darts or anything like that at one of the clubs at Patpong.  Tempting as it might be to see a woman shoot things out of her pussy, I was able to resist that temptation.  I did go for a massage, but it was of the traditional Thai variety – not one with a “happy ending”.

Never mind the seedy stuff, the food was great and cheap, the drinks cheap.  Apart from the heat and humidity, I really enjoyed Bangkok.  I want to go back now.

Saw this guy selling bras and undies in the Namdaemun markets in Seoul.  He was doing a very brisk trade with the ladies.

I’m on a plane most of today, heading for Seoul in Korea, where I’ll be working for the rest of the week.  I will have the weekend and Monday to do some sightseeing before I head home on Monday night next week.  I’ll even get out of Seoul for a day on the weekend, as I’m off to visit my niece and nephew, and their parents of course, who are a couple of hours train ride south of Seoul – thats on the KTX train which is the Korean version of the French TGV.

I went to Sydney for a couple of days for work Monday and Tuesday.  Getting there, absolutely regulation – takes about 45 minutes flight time, about 3 hours from home to office.  Sydney was good too.  The Shangri-La Hotel in The Rocks is very nice, and the pizza at the Australian Hotel just down the road from it is pretty good too, as is their beer.

Coming home was however a bit of an ordeal.  My 7.45 pm flight should have seen me back in Canberra just after 8.30 and home about 9pm.  No such luck!

We took off on time, flew to Canberra, commenced descent, then suddenly the plane started going up again.  WTF?  After a few minutes the pilot announced over the PA system that we couldn’t land safely in Canberra due to fog, so would be returning to Sydney, and that it was not likely that Canberra would be clear for landings till late next morning.  Anyway, we got back to Sydney around 9.15 pm.  Fronting up to the Qantas service desk to find out what was happening, and found the staff there hadn’t actually figured out what was happening.  First, we were going to be rebooked onto flights today and put up in hotels – however, this fell through … barely any hotel beds available in Sydney (due to State of Origin football game on tonight).  So it was plan B, buses, to depart at 10.30 pm.

These turned up closer to 11, and we were on our way, for a 3 and a 1/2 hour drive.  Got into Canberra just after 2.30 am and home about 3.

After the initial confusion on Qantas’ part about what was supposed to be happening, they actually did a halfway decent job of getting us home.  Organised the buses, gave us some food and drink, and called the cab company in Canberra to tell them 3 buses would be arriving at the airport early in the morning – and the taxis actually turned up in reasonable numbers which was a pleasant surprise … my driver told me that normally at that time on a Tuesday night there’d only be about 5 cabs on duty for the whole of Canberra.

A couple of bad things, apart from my one hour trip ending up taking 7 hours.  I’ve been on coaches in places like Korea and Malaysia, where the people aren’t exactly giants, and found them very comfortable with plenty of leg room.  Not last night, the seats on this bus must have been built for midgets – Eagle Tours was the coach company Qantas hired to drive us to Canberra.  Second, we had a toilet stop at BP Marulan.  Having not eaten anything of substance since lunch time, by 1 am-ish I was fairly hungry.  One look at the food on offer at the diner at the service station cured that.  There was just nothing that looked even vaguely edible.  Crappy overheated pies (at $4.50!!!!), some sort of meat dishes covered in congealed gravy in a bain marie, frozen vegetables sitting forlornly in discoloured water in the same bain marie.   Back to the back old days, like it was prior to McDonalds and the like setting up at service centres along the highway – and its a sad commentary on the food on offer when Maccas is a vast improvement.

Here’s just a few.

The Chrysler Building – stood out from all around 42nd Street where I stayed for the first 2 nights in NY.

The Guggenheim Museum – fascinating building and has great artworks on display.

The parks – especially Washington Square.  I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of greenery in the city, and the fun being had by people using the various parks.

Of course, how can you go to New York without visiting Liberty Island?

And finally:

M&M’s World – 3 floors of M&M’s and M&M related products.  I’m fascinated that there is a market for all this stuff, but it was very busy when I was looking around.

Seen while wandering around near Times Square in New York.

I really doubt the veracity of its claim to be New York’s only Scottish restaurant.  There are a million of a much better known one all over the place.  Just like this one.