skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I thought I had better take a photo of the car I was driving before leaving Munich. Here it is... a Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDI. Extremely fuel efficient car. The trip computer indicated a whopping 900km on a full tank of diesel.
Not a very interesting interior though... but very well-built, as are all German makes.
(Don't ask how I took this photo.)
Even though the Golf is a teeny-weeny car, it is extremely stable, and it was not a problem at all on the speed-limitless Autobahns in Germany. I have only dared to get this thing to 190kmh. As you can see, the tachometer was still miles away from the red line, so there was still a lot of room for this thing to go faster. Oh yes, as an indication of how fuel efficient it was, the engine revved at only 1500rpm at 80kmh.
I love how the engine bays look on European (especially German) vehicles. Always with this huge engine cover that makes the engine bay look very very tidy. Those of you who build car model kits (with engine details) will know what I mean. A pleasure to look at them. Very unlike the mess on Japanese cars.
With this, I bid farewell to Munich, bringing along with me fond memories that I will cherish many many years down the road. It had been a tremendous task setting up the station, training new staff, handling the Volcano Crisis, amongst many many other things. It's been an unforgetable experience. Auf wiedersehen!
Who's the highest of them all?
So this is it... the car that I have been driving for the past six months... a Ford Fiesta 1.25L manual. Very nimble and functional little car, but unfortunately I never got to drive it in water like what Clarkson did with the Royal Marines. Nonetheless, still a pleasure driving this piece of junk.
In case you're wondering, I had to the floor the accelerator between work and home everyday on the Autobahn... and it goes only as fast as 160km/h max.
If you miss my shoot-while-driving stunts, here's another one done with my right foot stuck to the floor... (kids, do not do this when you are driving your dad's car)
That's right... a damned piling machine... right behind my apartment. What a &^%$#^%$&^% peaceful day I had on my off day at home...
Some people call us weirdos... some call us crazy nuts... some even think we're an entirely different species... and most don't understand why we spend three-quarters of our lives caressing our step ladders in the hot stinking sun by the runway fence far from human civilisation armed with heavy humongous SLRs weighing a ton each. Well... just call us plane spotters. Not plain spotters, but PLANE spotters.
Yes, if you've ever had a chance to spend 5 minutes observing us, you'll notice that we hardly talk to each other. We just stand there, gazing into the blue open skies, gazing into the distant, or glance at our watches, all in the hope of something unusual and rare appearing in front of our eyes. When when a rare "bird" does appear, we climb onto our ladders in unison, and if it's your lucky day, you will hear a burst of camera shutters firing away, just like what you and your colleagues would do with automatic rifles if you had a chance to kill your boss. And immediately after that, you will see us bow our heads (just like how you would as a sign of respect after killing your boss) and stare intently on the LCD screens on our cameras while we scrutinise each and every one of our shots.
That's us... we're plainly plane spotters.
The Mercedes-Benz SL Night Edition. Finished in a [fill in your own adjective here] semi-gloss black (or if you are the pessimistic sort, semi-MATT black). Designed especially for those with a phobia of the sun and can only live at night. With this Night Edition, you can go driving about both day and night.
Yes... you are right... I'm driving the miserable Ford Fiesta parked next to the Mercedes Night-All-Day...
... and nope, I did not bang my door on the Night-All-Day...
Every Station Manager's nightmare...
So this is how you should park your Mercedes-Benz SL...
Inflight meal in Economy Class on SQ192/28OCT09 (SIN-PEN).
So you may ask... what are the perks of a short 60-minute flight?
1. Just a bloody sandwich and pre-packed orange-coloured syrup to shut you up and in order to fulfill the basics of being a full-service carrier.
2. They don't even bother to turn on the inflight entertainment system (even if it's an AVOD aircraft), and hence you won't get those flimsy plastic pull-your-hair headsets and you can't watch any movies.
3. You spend more time in the cab travelling to the airport, checking in, and then waiting for the flight than the actual flying time.
4. You don't have time to go mess up the lavatory and take away all their toothbrushes, toothpastes and sanitary pads.
5. You don't have time to recline your seat-backs to irritate the hell out of the person behind you.
So now do you see why I love it so much?
Male Olive-backed Sunbird (Nectarina jugularis)
Photographed while driving (how skilful) home from the airport. Dedicated to the next generation who may never ever get to see a real chicken...
People say, Penang is just like Singapore in the 50's or 60's. Indeed!
I was by the runway waiting to photograph aeroplanes and was getting SEEEriously bored (because traffic at PEN is sooooooooo blardy boring). Then all of a sudden, this thing pulled up beside my car and started ringing its bell. Cling cling cling cling...
And no, I did not buy anything...
Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis)
Photographed from the window of my apartment in Penang. This particular bird (named Bart by my wife) would visit me and peck at my window for at least 5 minutes everyday!
Oh and yes... it gets a bit worrying when the wife starts giving names to bird visitors and starts talking to them...
Yes, that's right. I am so bored in my Penang home that I have started catching lizards alive. And I'm getting pretty darn good at it. This is a close-up shot of my thumb and index finger holding on to a live baby lizard.
And if you're wondering, yes, I felt like eating it. But I didn't. I simply threw it out of the window... and I'm wondering if it managed to find its way back to home sweet home. Sorry mate... hope the landing wasn't too hard.
So this is what you get on the short 60min flight from SIN to PEN on SQ192 in Business Class. What crap. It's just an EYCL meal presented nicely. And it tasted disgusting.
Climbing to 3,000ft on a right turn after departure from PEN runway 04 on the IKILO1C SID. I was seated at 16K on board 9V-SRI operating SQ191 flying PEN-SIN.
Breakfast in Business Class on SQ192/01SEP09 (SIN-PEN)
You need culinary counselling if you find this appetizing. Can't they do better than this?
Dinner in Business Class on MI357/27AUG09 (PEN-SIN).
This was my first flight on SilkAir. I can't imagine myself saying this, but I am going to: The food was actually pretty good, and much more appetising than that served on the parent airline!
The French toast was actually warm and fresh. Chicken was tender, and vegetables were fresh and tasty. The cauliflower was actually crispy, unlike the soft unfresh ones on the parent airline. Nice touch made for the butter, and the apply crumble dessert was fantastic!
Don't get me started about why I was flying SilkAir... I'm not entirely happy about it. Not only did I not get to fly on the new long-haul PCL and JCL on the A380, A330 or B773ER, I now have to fly on MI??!!!??!! (&*^&%$$%$#^$%&^%&*(*&^$%#^%#^%$&*^%(*&)*^&%$%^#&%$
Breakfast in Business Class on SQ192/30JUN09 (SIN-PEN).
What's the difference between this and an Economy Class tray meal?
Brunch in Business Class on SQ191/20JUN09 (PEN-SIN).
Weird-tasting fish pasta. Weird-looking pink strawberry-but-tasted-like-chocolate dessert. Weird-combination of colourful ingredients for the salad appetiser that wasn't appetising at all.
The only thing I finished completely was the glass of water... that's right... I didn't even bother to ask for a glass of apple juice because I knew they only had some low-grade made-of-sugar-but-taste-like-apple liquid.
