Memorable things about Far East Holiday

In keeping with "random thoughts" - what will be my outstanding memories of Hong Kong/Singapore?

Condensation in Hong Kong - but on the outside of the windows, not the inside where I'd expect it - most strikingly on the windows of the air-conditioned public buses...

The inequality in living conditions - the difference between the gleaming tower blocks in the centre of Hong Kong and the "social housing" not to far away, and the rural villages was striking - whole families living in a space 3 metres by 4 - with a mezzanine to provide a sleeping area. Even where that had progress, it was in the form of building 3 or 4 stories on the same 12m2 plot! And then there where was the ex-British army accommodation - siting empty - slowly rotting away because of the high humidity.

The density of the population in Hong Kong - every where you look round Victoria Harbour there are tower blocks - and not just single blocks - in some places, blocks of tens of identical 20+ floor tower blocks. Getting 7 million living in such a small area demands this density - and the people appear to like living so close - there is space in the Special Administrative Region.

By contrast Singapore was slightly less dense in terms of building - at least until they finish building! The quality of the public housing was also a significant step up - the gap between the haves and the have nots seamed less.

The amount of "countryside" in Hong Kong - outside the immediate surrounds of the tower blocks around Victoria Harbour, the land quickly becomes very lush with greenery.

Singapore was if anything even greener - every public space had some plants - covering road bridges with flowering shrubs certainly softens them. It lives up to the title "garden city".

In both Hong Kong and Singapore it was great to use the familiar three pin plug - shame neither culture adopted British queuing or organisation on the underground. The wonderful underground system in Singapore was missing the standing on the right and walking on the left on escalators and keeping left when walking - being faced by a wall of people in the interlinking tunnels touch the edge off the great organisation.

Singapore made a great impression, wonderful climate, clean, safe. I'll certainly be back for more Grand Prix if I can muster the funds, and it would be a great place to be an ex-pat! I'm not sure I could cope with the humidity and population density in Hong Kong.

Singapore down pour

If it had rained like this on any of the three Grand Prix days it would have added considerable spice to the race. 10 minutes of tropical rain, then the sun was out again and the normal wonderful climate restored.

Race Day

	From Race Day

So race day had arrived, not as hot as the previous two days - but more humid. My prediction of rain never materialised - but a glorious race did. After the support races completed, the bay stand filled with 32,000 people ready for the 800th Grand Prix - but the first under lights.

In a packed stand, the inability of my camera to see thought people wasn't going to be over come by the size of the lens I was using! The best opportunities for pictures of the cars at speed where on the previous days, with less people at the track and before the organisers had got wise to the unofficial places to observe the track from - such as under the stand as the track past below it!

Nelson Piquet walked away, eventually, from an impact right into the barriers in front of my stand. The exact timing of the resulting safety car would eventually lead to Alonso's victory. The fact that he was walking is a testament to the safety of the cars - for a while everyone in the stand was concerned something had punctured his safety cell.

Then the pit stop that ruined Massa's day/night and possibly his championship - all on the big screen right in front of me - like watching at home, but with added sound effects every few seconds!

The race continued to enthrall - another safety car put everyone back into a snake, with close racing to the end. Alonso's early pit stop immediately before the first safety car proved decisive as other dropped away in front of him - and a near perfect drive from 15th on the grid gained him a deserved win. Lewis drove conservatively to the points that come with 3rd - with both Ferraris out of the points pushing for more would have simply been greedy. 3 more races with 30 points up for grabs - if Lewis comes 2nd in every race he is champion by a point even if Massa wins every race.

Then they opened the track to smooth the journey home; and for lots of photo opportunities...

Qualifying over - now for the racing

From Qualifying

The atmosphere raised another level as the activity on the track had real significance - and the drivers didn't disappoint. Amazing how many Ferrari fans are in the stand! Given the number of times the cars came close to each other under practice and qualifying conditions - the action tomorrow should be great - the noise was also up a level as the team took more out of their engines for qualifying....

The pictures aren't that different from yesterday - and having taken 1,200 - 5.8GB worth, it will take me some time to find the good ones from those that are out of focus or blocked by some one standing up in front of me! The organisers had closed off some of the great positions I found on Friday - not surprising really - the barriers next to the track below the bay stand didn't look like they'd provide significant protection in the event of a crash - especially if any parts of the car few off - they could bounce in any direction....

Let the Night Racing begin

From Friday Practice

After a smooth journey on the MRT and a walk to find "gate 7" that included a welcome portion within a large air conditioned shopping centre I located my seat in the bay grandstand. The journey to and the surrounding backed the fact that this circuit is right in the centre of a city - traffic on a large packed flyover continued to creep past - a traffic jam within sight of the fastest motor sport!

Maybe it is a sign of me being 8 years older, but I'm sure that this generation of cars aren't anyway as noisy as those I saw roar around Silverstone - I distinctly remember struggling to be heard as v10s thundered past - the v8s braking into the tunnel before disappearing under the stand sound very rough - not an expected sound effect... Today the serious racing begins with qualifying.

It pays to question the rediculous

It was worth my questioning of DHL's unexpected invoice for import VAT on my tickets to the Singapore GP - if they'd only tried to charge me VAT on the nominal value of about £50 I would have begrudgingly paid up - but when they tried to charge me VAT on more than an extra £50 as the "cost of shipping outside the EU" I felt I was some how being done. I only paid ~£17 extra for courier delivery rather than surface mail - costing the non-EU portion at over £50 seams like attempted VAT fraud to me! The good thing to say for DHL is they where true to their auto-response to my email - they responded by mail, but not within the 7-10 working days stated, and they did back down without question - wonder if the fact I cc'd the VAT man had anything to do with that!

Far East Holiday Autumn 2008

Unlike last year, when I waited until the last minute - OK three weeks before - to book the hotel in the vain hope that there would be a "special" that would get me a great room (and view) at a discount rate, then ended up having less choice and paying exactly the same as if I'd booked at the same time as I booked the flights 9 months before, I've now completed booking hotels for my trip to Hong Kong and the F1 GP in Singapore... Lets see if I luck out again and get a nice upgrade to a suite - as long as the view of Hong Kong harbour is as good as the reviews and pictures I don't really mind.... The hotel in Singapore on the other hand was one of the first things booked - immediately after the tickets to the Grand Prix - the "special rate" for that weekend is enough to make you think twice, luckily for the rest of the week in Singapore rates return to very reasonable levels for a 4 star hotel in a popular Far East destination. Now to start booking the day trips - already got tickets for the Singapore Flyer - the London Eye, but bigger and better. So the count down begins.... 112 days until a late night departure from Terminal 5 - lets hope they've sorted out the baggage handling by then....