Singapore, Malaysia and Bangkok

OK so this may be a little late, and it may make the blog URL slightly out of date, but here's the notes from my trip last year ('09) to Singapore (for the grand prix), Malaysia and Bangkok.

SINGAPORE

Thursday

Nice sunny day
Went to the gym
Hung out with Dominic
See McLaren staff at the airport
Sell my old rupees, buy noise reduction headphones

Watch Angles and Demons on the plane

Order a gin and tonic, it's about 90% gin

Strange chinese man next to James sits on the arm rest for most of the flight

Get a little bit of sleep

Watch State of Play

Friday

Arrived

The best baggage reclaim area in the world
Watch Practice
Go to Jazz bar, meet local who tells us that in Singapore the three things that are really expensive are cars, cheese and alcohol.

Saturday

Ate at hospital canteen
Went to Arab street
Buy shirt
Go to Little India
See temple, very busy

Go to Orchard Street, meet Dave and girlfriend
Lunch, beer

Qualifying - Hamilton on pole

Watch Travis live afterwards, surprisingly good fun!

Sunday

Hawker eating

Met Indian guy and girlfriend
Chijmes

Watch Grand prix
Watch Jon Digweed afterwards, OK but the location has no energy
Dinner on boat quay - nuts and prawns don't mix!

Kuala Lumpur

Monday

Border controls on the causeway
Lost a person on the bus

Bus journey, relaxing and fun

Strange canteen for lunch
Curry laksa - favourite Malay dish

Food hall for supper. Beer much cheaper now

Go to Reggae bar
Gay Iranian introduces himself to us, looks like he's been tortured in Iran
Meet Sweedish I'm a celeb staff who have been filming in the Malay jungle
Meet friendly Northern Irish girl

Tuesday

Go to Petronas Towers
Go to Beatles Bar - bad karaoke, prostitutes and expensive cocktails. No Beatles music.

Aparently there was an Earthquake when we were in the Towers. Didn't feel it.
Buy Converse shoes from shop under Towers

Old China restaurant, really nice

Perhentian Islands

Wednesday

Crazy taxi ride to airport
Go past Sepang circuit

Fly to Kota Baru
Taxi to Kota Besut
Wait for storm to pass
Sea journey of hell, soaked through
chill out in hotel
meal in the restaurant
meet Jo and Trev from the north, they get very drunk, share "interesting" stories from Thailand
leave jo and trev in a bar, go home

Thursday

Moving places, hot and tiring
Jo and trev have lost wallets and camera
Sea, air display
jo finds his wallet
I get sunburnt

Supper at Panorama with our neighbour Maria – I eat fish

Go to beach bar, I get indigestion

Maria offers schnapps as the solution and goddammit it works!

Friday

Walk to Coral Bay, lizards

jo leaves his card in the cash shop

Moonlight bar
cats fighting, bats fly overhead
good chat with Maria

Saturday

Snorkelling

Turtles – surfacing for air
Turtles eating jellyfish
Sharks – one then four
Baby turtles in a box
Multicoloured fish, barracudas, bread in hand, biting
Katrin the Swiss girl
Napoleon fish poo sand, loads of them

Evening meal with Maria plus Katrin, plus two other girls.
Watch film Management
Massive rain storm
drink vodka
Teach dance steps
dancing in the bar
Good times

Sunday

Go back to Coral Bay to use the internet to see the grand prix, internet not working
Manage to convince the guys in Amelia bar to change the TV to the grand prix so get to see it after all.
Go back, have a sleep in the evening, dinner with Katrin and new Dutch guy, Martin.

Monday

Take it easy, write ups, read Stillness is the way. Watch MTV in Panorama
Have a drink in Bubu, a quick swim, starting to peel
Have dinner in Bubu, lamb rack very nice
Go back to Panorama and meet with Katrin and Martin for the last time, watch end of How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. Have our last drinks and say bye.
The nuts have disappeared.

Tuesday

Sort stuff out and pack
find nuts under bed, something has eaten them. Probably a spider lizard monkey
take boat back to mainland, much better, smoother, faster. Taxi to airport and then flight.

Checked back into same KL hotel as before, surfed the net for ages
Back to Old China café in KL
Back to reggae bar, not as busy this time
Early night

Wednesday

Saw main square, muddy confluence, mosque
went to airport flew to bangkok, surprisingly didn't fall asleep on the flight
taxi from airport, spend just under an hour looking for a u-turn in rush hour traffic.
Go to Pete's, meet Oscar, have a great meal from the maid, chatted, used the internet, watched tv – perfect disaster

Thursday

woke up late, went swimming, surfed web
lunch of rice and eggs
had a massage – two hours, very relaxing, massaging the ankles was surprisingly relaxing, almost fell asleep. Sure the massage girl fancied me
watched james may, ate sausage and cheese
fish supper
drank some chang
watched torchwood
went to bed

Friday

Woke up, finished off cornflakes
packed and left

Flew to Singapore

cocktails
high hotel
seafood paradise
drinks in the party area
bed

Saturday

Flight back, top deck of new airbus