February 2012

There were 11 posts published in February 2012 (this is page 2 of 2).

Midnight delay

Singapore Changi airport at 3:30 AM

Delays are quite common when you travel by plane, especially in China or with Chinese airlines. Over the years I had many bad delays, including one 28 hour delay on a KLM flight from Amsterdam to Shanghai (it seems the blog post about that one has been lost in cyberspace) and many 6+ hour delays because of air traffic control in China. You can’t change it, so I try not to get too upset about it, it’s just part of the deal when you fly a lot.

Last night we planned to take a 0:55 AM flight from Singapore back to China. The flight would get in around 6 AM, so I would just be home in time to wake up the kids, have breakfast with them and take them to school. But no, that did not happen, because the flight was delayed. Instead of leaving at 0:55 AM the flight would not take off until an expected 3:15 AM. During daytime a delay is a nuisance, but in the middle of the night it’s a lot worse I feel, especially when you are tired.

Sleeping in the business lounge in Singapore

So what do you do in that case? Well, I went to the business lounge, found a good recliner, put on my sleeping mask and put in my ear plugs, and slept for 2 hours straight. I was sleepy after a day of meetings and was still a little jet lagged from the New Zealand trip, so I was asleep right away. I put my alarm to wake up on time (getting up after 2 hours of sleep was not too easy), found out that the flight was even more delayed and eventually boarded the plane around 3:40 AM.

The China Eastern flight that we booked was operated by an old Shanghai Airlines plane with terrible 1980s-like business class seats (a bit better than economy ones, but a far cry from what you normally get in business these days). But despite that I managed to fall asleep before departure already and only woke up around 8:15 AM, while we were starting our descent into Shanghai. All in all I had a decent sleep, despite the non-optimal situation.

Arrival in Shanghai, waiting in the business class bus to drive to the terminal

The kids were not happy that Grace and I were not there to wake them up. We had talked to them over Skype video the night before, and they were very disappointed that we had not arrived yet. Scott even refused to get up until I would be there, because I had promised him that… Next time I probably won’t tell them that I will be back early the next morning, because I feel really bad about it.

Two day trip to Singapore

Coffee in Orchard Road with Xander
Tuesday and Wednesday Xander and I were in Singapore for business meetings. I had not been to Singpore in almost 2 years (except for stopovers on the airport) and it was good to be back for a few days.

Next to the busy meeting schedule we also managed to see a bit of the city, especially because our meetings were scattered all over the place. During most of my recent trips I stayed in the city center, so I noticed that the city changed quite a bit since I last spent more time here (which was probably back in 2003 when Grace did a semester at INSEAD here, almost 9 years ago already).

Seafood at the East Coast Park in Singapore

My parents were also in town, so I had drinks with them at Boat Quay and of course my favorite Pepper Crab at Jumbo on the East Coast. The East Coast never changed, simple chairs and tables on a concrete floor next to the beach and excellent food (and cold Tiger beer!).

The INSEAD campus in Singapore has changed a bit since 2003

The area around INSEAD had totally changed. We had a meeting at Fusionopolis, and when we arrived there I realized it was right next door to the INSEAD campus. I think that in the old days there were just some fields around the INSEAD buildings, now there was a nicely looking building towering over the INSEAD grounds (see picture above).

Sentosa island late afternoon

On Wednesday after our meetings were over we had a late afternoon drink on Sentosa island with my parents. I used to like Sentosa a lot, but the place has become a kind of amusement park. It’s a pity, but I guess that’s what people want. The (man-made) white sand beaches were still there, but all of them now had bars with music and on the other side of the road there were all kinds of attractions to keep people busy, including among others the biggest indoor skydiving place in the world… It doesn’t fit to the island, but people seem to like it.

Having a beer with my dad on Sentosa

Also the Singapore skyline changed dramatically because of the addition of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort area. When driving into town from the airport it looks okay, but from other places in town it is just plain ugly. I decided not to take a picture of it but to only put the old skyline in the picture below!

Singapore skyline at night