Archive for June, 2008

How risky is flying Air China?

Tonight I flew from Beijing to Shanghai with Air China. Because I was tired after my trip I decided to upgrade to First Class, so I would have a bit more space to relax during the flight (I actually ended up working for most of the flight, but that's my own fault :-) and get a decent meal. The plane was supposed to leave at 5:30 PM, and indeed we left the gate a few minutes before that. We taxied to the runway, but halfway we stopped. We stood there for 15 minutes when the pilot came on the...
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Trip to Singapore

I spent a couple of days in Singapore for AdTech, a conference and exhibition about digital marketing. I had been to an AdTech event before in China, but never to the conference in Singapore. But because Spill Group's Asian sites outside China have grown to a pretty decent size over the past year (game.co.in is in the top 5 of flash sites in India, games.co.id is number 1 in Indonesia) and so advertising on these sites has become more important. I did not speak at this event, but just visited...
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Pudong airport Terminal 2: Cheap coffee and free wifi

I am typing this from Terminal 2 in Shanghai Pudong airport where I will catch a flight to Singapore in 30 minutes. This is the first time I depart from the new Terminal 2, so far all of my flights over the past week were out of Terminal 1.I am not particularly fond of Terminal 1, it feels cold, the shops are crappy and there is nothing to do. Terminal 2 is a lot better. It's brighter than Terminal 1 and it feels warmer, probably because of the carpets on the floor. The new terminal looks very...
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Scott starts to eat solid food

Yesterday Scott had 'solid' food for the first time. Until now he only drank milk (breastfeeding and baby formula), but after almost 6 months it was time to introduce him to something different. We bought special rice cereal for him, a kind of rice congee, a mix between liquid and real solid food.At first Scott was looking a bit bewildered at the spoon, but he soon figured out that he could suck on it and get the food in his mouth. He seemed to like it, but felt that we did not give him the...
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Short trip to Holland

Sunday night I arrived in Holland with CIC's Sam Flemming for a short visit. My second visit to Holland in a week actually, so I am glad that I don't suffer too much from jet lags. Sunday night started off with a dinner with friends of mine in restaurant De Belhamel on the corner of the Brouwersgracht and de Heerengracht. I took Sam along as well, and we had a nice dinner with several bottles of good Australian wine. During the dinner I realized that all of my friends had either worked abroad...
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Baby boy Scott update

It's been a while since I last wrote about my little baby boy Scott. He is growing up fast: even though he is not even 6 months old, he is about 70 cm tall and has a weight of 9 kilogram. And he is such a sweet boy, he hardly ever cries and smiles at us all the time. He makes me happy each time I see him, and I miss him every time I am going on a business trip (I am writing this while in the business lounge at Pudong airport on my way to Holland, and I miss him now already!). He is almost...
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Chinese in Tanzania

During the week we spent in Tanzania I was surprised to see how big this countries potential is. Among others there are huge natural resources and also tourism has only just started. I saw numerous business opportunities, without even really thinking about it. But the strange thing is that when you walk on the streets of Moshi you just see young men sitting around doing nothing. Occasionally they get up to try to sell you something you don't need or want, or just to ask you for money, but for...
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Golf in Tanzania

When we arrived in Tanzania we decided to stay one day in Moshi before starting our hike up Kilimanjaro. We used the day to check out Moshi itself and then found out that the town actually has a golf course. The course is part of the Moshi Club, an old colonial-style club that was set up in the 1920's. You can still feel the former atmosphere, but due to mismanagement the club had gone down the drain over the past couple of years. There are some tennis courts as well, but judging from how...
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Mount Kilimanjaro – We made it!

Gary, my dad and I made it to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro earlier this week. It took us exactly 4 days and 2 hours to get from the entrance of Kilimanjaro National Park to the top and back again to the entrance gate.Especially the summit climb was quite hard. It was a freezing cold night climb in total darkness, and the higher we climbed the less oxygen there was. We left our camp 1200 meters below the top just after midnight to arrive at the crater rim at 5:30 AM, just in time for sunrise....
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