DAY 46 – F1 QUALIFYING AND TRAVIS

Spent another quite morning and early afternoon at the hotel then we went to the circuit for the qualifying

Decided to just go straight to our grandstand seats today got there while it was quiet and got this pic taken of us with the circuit, marina bay and the stunning Singapore skyline in the background.

Once it came to Qualifying just as it was hotting up in the final session we were denied the grand finale due to Baracello crashing just as everyone was starting their last flying laps so the current standings stood as the final qualifying result, it was great in some ways for us as it was British driver Lewis Hamilton on pole, but was also rather an anticlimax.

Scottish band Travis were playing live after the qualifying so we wondered over to where the stage was and saw them play, they finishing off with their best know song “Why does it always rain on me” but amazingly the rain stayed away!

DAY 45 – F1 PRATICE – AND IT CERTAINLY LOOKS LIKE RAIKKONEN NEEDS THE PRACTICE!

I still wasn’t feeling well so had a quiet morning and early afternoon at the hotel while James went out to do some sightseeing of Chinatown and little India,

After a good rest I felt well enough to goto the 1st day of the Grand Prix.

We had a good walk around the track during the 1st practice, but for the 2nd Practice took our seats in the grandstand. The seats didn’t offer us a huge view of the track, nor were they of the fastest part but what it did offer was a great view of the cars as they were charging toward a sharp bend entering a tunnel that went under the grandstand below where we were sitting all with the stunning backdrop of the Singapore skyline in the background.

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen got it all wrong on the corner ran wide and hit the tyre wall by the tunnel. It was perfect timing as I had just got a spot up front to snap some quick pics and got this great close up shot, you can see the lights from the dashboard reflecting in his visor along with the lights from the floodlights reflecting off the cars bodywork

DAY 44 DODGY STOMACH AT RAFFLES HOTEL

We both had at least 11 hours much needed sleep although I woke up with rather a dodgy stomach.

We had a little walk around outside where the F1 circuit was set up before going to collect our tickets, near the ticket collection was a Haagen Dazs and not feeling like eating much for lunch just decided to have an Ice Cream. I forgot my dodgy stomach and went for an ice cream sundae while James settled on a single scoop, the single scoop ending up arriving looking ridiculous and rather lonely in a huge bowl not to mention overpriced at $12 and that didn’t include the bowl To keep!

My Icecream sundae was better value but it certainly didn’t help my stomach, we went to walk around the famous Raffles hotel public areas and while I don’t look to bad here 15 minutes later it was a different story as we were wondering around I turned very white and came so close to being sick all over the famous hotels plush courtyard, thankfully I wasn’t and after rushing to the toilet still wasn’t, I guess there was no way I was going to allow myself to bring up an Icecream I’d just paid $15 for!!

After a few minutes I felt a bit better so we walked onwards past the old part of Singapore and then reaching the river, which we walked alongside for a while before doing a rivercruise.

DAY 43 MELLACA to SINGAPORE

After only about 3 hours sleep I somehow managed to stagger out of bed, snapped some shots of the view from my room get checked out and make it to the bus station in time for my bus to Singapore.

The fare was again only about £3.50 and was amazed to get on the coach and find that it was a luxury coach with only 30 seats in 1 by 2 configuration giving a wide comfortable seat. It took nearly 4 hours to get to the Singapore border where we had to get off and take our luggage to clear immigration & Customs, remembering to bin any chewing gum as it’s strictly not allowed into the country! I rejoined the coach on the Singapore side of the border and it wasn’t long before we were underway for the final 40 minuets into the city of Singapore.

After checking into the hotel and getting some lunch I went out to the airport to meet James who was flying in from England on a Singapore Airlines A380 superjumbo, I found a viewing mall to watch it land and taxi in.

After dinner we both needed an early night James was jetlagged while I was just beerlagged from the previous night!

DAY 42 – MALAYSIAN TRADITIONS AND CULTURES

DAY 42 – MALAYSIAN TRADITIONS AND CULTURES

Today was one of the best days I’ve ever had travelling anywhere, met so many people and did and saw so much or various different cultures.

It started with going for a traditional Malaysian Dim sum breakfast with the owner of the bar down the road and other drinkers from the bar the previous night. It was certainly a very different breakfast to what I’d ever had before some of the items I liked, some not so much but was a fun time and great experience.

Then the bar owners taxi driver friend offered to drive me around Malacca and show me the sights for only £8 per hour, This was a great idea as I had my own personal tour guide and got to see so much more than I wouldn’t have seen otherwise, first off we went to the Portuguese settlement, then onto Arab & Chinese settlements including a traditional Chinese cemetery where they use giant semi circular stones as gravestones.

Then it was onto the Eye on Malaysia a 60 meter tall Ferris wheel, which offered great views all over the city and straights of Malacca, which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world as ships head to and depart out of Singapore to all over Asia and Europe.

Got to meet a lot of locals as he took me to a public Malaysian house where the family show you around their home and tell you all about Malaysian traditions including the marriage tradition that they insisted we had to act out while they took a photo! Then had the owner put on a lunch of Malay pasties and cakes!

Then did an afternoon cruse up and down the river on traditional old Asian rickshaw boat.

Was planning to have a quite night ahead of an early start to travel to Singapore the next day, but there wasn’t much chance of that as had a great night back at the bar meeting a lot of people from different places in the world and also some friendly Malaysians, I eventually staggered back to my hotel sometime after 2am.

DAY 41 - MALACCA

I took a coach down to the Historical city of Malacca from KL airport, which took about 2 hours and cost me just £3.50. I had got an amazing deal on a Hotel paying just approx £36 per night for a 5 star Renaissance hotel. Arriving at my room on the 18th floor was greeted by stunning views all over Malacca and to the mountains beyond. After a couple of hours in the comfort of my air conditioned room I had to really force myself to go out sightseeing as it was so humid outside. I walked around the Dutch quarter and Chinatown areas for a couple of hours before taking refuge in a huge shopping centre. I bought 2 smart new shirts for just £8 had a meal before heading back outside where it was now dark and the Dutch quarter was all lit up so. Stopped off at a bar on the way back to my hotel planning to have a quick drink but ended up staying a while and having several after meeting some great people including the owner who arranged for a few of us to meet up for a traditional Malaysian Dim Sum Breakfast the following morning.

DAY 40 – HOW MANY CABIN CREW DOES IT TAKE TO CLOSE A LOCKER?

Today I left Perth for 10 days for a side trip to asia.

Having never flown out of Perth’s international terminal before I never realised there superb viewing deck, all be it behind glass, Here’s the arrival of my bird 9M-MRH a Malaysian airlines Boeing 777 with Perth city in the background, sadly the weather was yet again overcast with showers, but now I’ve found this viewing deck will make sure I make some more visits on a clear blue skies day and get some fantastic shots of planes with the city in the background!

Onboard the plane a hilarious occurrence happened while taxing out to the runway as an overhead locker kept popping open. A passenger kept trying to shut it and was soon joined by a member of the cabin crew, they still couldn’t secure it and were soon joined by 2 and then eventually 4 more cabin crew all franticly trying to secure the locker before we moved onto the runway for takeoff, they finally realised it was broken and they weren’t going to secure it so they started running up and down the aisles desperately looking for space in other lockers the main stumbling block was finding space for 2 oddly shaped walking sticks and many of the passengers burst into laugher as these cabin crew were franticly running round the place armed with the sticks to find some space to stow them!

They just made it and rushed to their seats just as we pulled onto the runway many of the passengers applauded and let out a big cheer, which almost drowned out the noise of our huge engines throttling up for takeoff, I’m sure many passengers were praying the engines were more reliable than the lockers!

They were and 5 and a half hours later we landed in Kuala Lumpur.