Bali Trip 6th-10th Feb 2011

I was in Bali for this years company trip. We left for Denpasar on the 6th Feb, which was the fourth day of the Chinese New Year. The flight was shorter than I expected, it took about 2hours and 10mins.

I had never been to Bali before but I've heard so much about it. I was actually planning a trip there years ago before the Bali Bombings happened but it didn't work out. 

I've seen so many beautiful pictures of Bali before. Heard so much of its beautiful beaches and surfs, the Hindu culture and its people. As you know, Bali is 80% Hindu, so you get lots of pork dishes but surprisingly you get lots of Beef dishes too! Weird!

Anyway, upon touch down, we were guided by our tour guide to the bus. Everything was smooth so far and weather was hot as usual being a tropical country. No sight of the nice beaches so far.
As the bus moved off from the airport, we went through the streets of Bali, at this point, the guide started the usual introduction to Bali, he told a few cold jokes which were pretty bad in my opinion. That did not distract me from the sights I was looking at through the windows. To be honest, it was not a nice sight, the first thought that ran through my mind was, is this Jakarta or Bali? The streets looked exactly like Jakarta, apparently there was a storm the previous day and the roads were flooded. So what they did was opened up the drain covers and dug all the silt and mud out onto the roads and pavement. And left it there. Nasty.
So far Bali as a paradise island has been totally wiped out of my memory.

As it turned out, I learnt over the days spent in Bali that all the beautiful beaches that I saw in Tour brochures and online were extremely far away from where we stayed and Bali was like 4-5 times bigger than Singapore. The cost of staying at those private beach front resorts were like $700-$1500 per night!! Ouch!!

We stayed in Dama Beach Resort, it was a nice little resort, fully landscaped in the authentic Bali styled natural decor. It really made my stay there felt like a holiday with all that greenery and rustic kampung feel. The rooms were big and well decorated unfortunately the air-condition was quite weak and in Bali, you really need cool air as the whole stay there was extremely humid.

We had a fully laid out itinerary for the 5 days there.
We did 4x4 land rover rides for the whole of the second day and had a great time. The rovers went through Padi plantations on the hills and we had lunch at a beach side hut, the sand on the beach was really black and was shimmering under the afternoon sun. We did however had a little incident on our rover as we got lost from the main group. We ended the day riding the rovers on the beach! It was a quite exciting as I thought these kind of things only happened on TV!

Third day was hiking, which surprisingly, was quite uneventful. Still it was a great workout for me. Rest of the day was spent shopping and foot massaging.

Fourth day was Rafting in the rapids!! And I have one word to sum it up! Shiok!! I had never did river rapid rafting and I must say it could have been more faster to increase the excitement but of course safety concern is the main issue here as we wouldn't want to be pulling dead bodies up from the river! After the rafting, we had to climb this ridiculous high staircase up the cliffs to our lunch and tour bus. On the bus ride back, everyone was knocked out due to fatigue.

Fifth and last day was a 1 hour foot massage followed by a drive to the airport.

Overall, a few things to note. Bali is a huge island, getting from place to place takes time and the traffic jams don't help one bit. You can only do one activity per day as travelling takes up 3 hours to and from. Road conditions are like Jakarta or similar. Narrow one way and two way roads. Individual shops decor is quite interesting to me, some are quite creative and up to date surprisingly. Nothing much for guys though other than the usual knock-off surf shorts and Bintang singlets. Clubbing is a must for those that like it, lots of cool clubs. Lots of chill out places too.
One thing that you will notice is that the local folks are really nice and friendly. Well I guess they have to be, as the whole island is dependent on tourism as the main industry.
Food? for me, surprise, surprise, not fantastic. I suspect a lack of research before the trip was the main cause. It was not a case of "any" stall would taste good. There was one or two outstanding ones. Still, do your research before you go.

Would I revisit? Very unlikely, as I've done most of the main activities available.
I would return to Pulau Tioman in Malaysia anyday if given a choice between the two.
I getting old I guess. Quiet, uncrowded places are my choices of relaxing resorts nowadays.
And of course, the sand there is white and the water is blue, plus it's 2 hours away by bus from Singapore and cheaper!

Last trip of 2010, Dec 18-21

My first blog of the year is a late report of my last road trip in 2010 December.
The trip started from Singapore to Cameron Highlands to Penang to Kuala Lumpur and back to Singapore.

It took us about 7hours drive from the causeway to reach Brinchang town on Cameron Highlands. The last time I was here was early last year. I never get tired of Cameron Highlands, its cooling, food is good, air is extremely fresh, the air even smells good!! something you don't notice when you are breathing in Singapore because our air is polluted!

We only stayed a night due to the tight schedule. We bought some of the fantastic fresh corn which is to be eaten raw, some plants, fruits, jam and wild honey and made our way down to Penang. It was the weekend and school holidays so we were stuck in a jam all the way down.
When we reach Penang, there was no hotel rooms available so we panicked a little. After half an hour and many phone calls away, we managed to find a suite in Bayview hotel and squeezed all 6 of us into it.
The next day, we headed for the FOOD!! Chendol, Fried Kway Tiao, Lor Bah, Ice Kachang and all the sinful stuff!! Woohoo!!



We left Penang for KL after having our stomachs filled with all the junk food and the feeling of bliss from savouring all the famous dishes.

I visited Hobby HQ while I was in KL, they had moved a few times since I last visited them few years back. The showroom had many impressive models on display but the range of kits was a let down. The shop looked like it was barely hanging on, the remote location of the shop did not help much to improve it. However I enjoyed looking at all the finished work and I'm sure others will as well.

By the last day, I had already caught the flu bug from one of my friends travelling together and I just could'nt wait to go home. I fell sick for the next two weeks and was really suffering as the flu developed into Sinusitis and I couldn't eat without getting a sharp pain from my jaw.

Nevertheless, another Malaysia road trip in the bag and hope that theres many more to come!!

Real Product Design

I've been in the Furniture Design business for a good 12years now. After day in day out, year after year exposing myself to the "latest" Design trends from Milan, New York, London.....Blah blah blah, I'm now so sick of "Design". It takes quite a lot to get me excited about design now. No matter how innovative a piece can be or how beautiful the lines are, I run through them without blinking.

Nowadays, I am more attracted to things that are unintentionally designed. Or as Naoto Fukasawa and Jasper Morrison put it, "Super Ordinary" objects.

So it is by chance that I came across this "Product" two days ago.

This object was discovered at a Foreign labour "hostel". "Designed" from a purely functional point of view for a single purpose. It is a barbel with cement as weight. Probably made by either a vain or fitness conscious Bangladeshi using whatever he can scrap after a days work at the construction site. The cement was cast with a pail as evident from the shape of the weights. The barbel is simply a piece of metal plunged into the cement before it set.

Simple but it works.

There was some evidence that this was a second set made judging from the pile of rubble infront of the weights. Perhaps the initial set's cement were not mixed properly and it crumbled when dropped. Evidence of product improvement on the second set. Evolution of thought process already in progress.

It reminds me of my Design History lessons as a student. At the turn of the 20th century during the industrial revolution where Design came into importance. The first designs were mostly mass produced everyday items like pots and pans stamped out of sheet metal powered by a steam engine. Design was used as a tool or skill to serve the mass population and not the elitist snobbish crap that it is today.

Seeing that piece of object with the accompanying home made bench which was also scrap together with "parts" has energised my design thought. It made me wanna go back to my roots as a designer and design with a purpose, a real purpose. The Modern masters were right as always, as Le Corbusier put it plainly, Less is more.

Colonial Country

Been back from London for about 2 weeks now, jet lag was pretty bad because of the previous Scandinavian trip barely 2 weeks before. We took the Airbus A380 but I must say that the difference is not much from any other aircraft. I'd say the comfort level was maybe just 5-8% more than an upgraded B-777. Service was not fantastic either considering its SIA. All in all the flight was pretty average to me.

We reached London in the evening, weather was cooling, no rain. First impressions, narrow roads, lots of cabs, dirty sidewalks, lots of old buildings, lots of Indians and Indian restaurants.

Our hotel room was really small, seems to be the case in all developed cities visited so far. There was no WiFi as usual, TV programs were limited as well but the room felt clean though.
Dropped our luggage and went for dinner. We chose a cheap middle eastern ran Grilled/Fried chicken fast food joint. I went for the half Grilled chicken meal at 3.99 pounds with drink. Pretty decent meal though and filling.

The next day was pretty hot, around 25 degrees and I sweated a bit, that was the last day I saw the Sun. From then on the remaining 8 days was either cloudy, drizzling, raining or miserable or all combined. It got colder towards the end of the trip and by the time we left it was 10 degrees.

We spent the first 5 days on the job, going through the fairs, meeting retailers, architects, publishers. Visiting iconic stores collecting information. On Sunday I was finally free and done with work, unfortunately all the museums were closed and the stores closed early too! Crap!

I only managed to visit Modelzone and got some Revell kits and a couple of Vallejo paints. Price of the kits were almost the same or maybe S$1-S$2 cheaper than Singapore.

The typical tourist sites were as usual, packed with tourist! The Tower Bridge, commonly mistaken as the London bridge was fantastic, the draw bridge operated without any external cables and we were lucky to have witness a boat crossing it!

I find the bridge architecture impressive and did not notice that it actually has colour from pictures I have seen. The steel was painted in this light blue colour which I seldom see in Europe as all bridges appear dull and purely utilitarian.
Its quite refreshing!

HMS Belfast was parked just further down but as we reached there late, it was closing in 5 minutes so I did not get a chance to go on board.

The Clock Tower was next, or as it's commonly known as "Big Ben". The actual clock tower itself was heavily decorated with intricate motifs and design, elements of gold and stone made up most of it. Just further opposite of the river was the London eye, I didn't know it was smaller than the Singapore Flyer.

Buckingham Palace was boring, It looked more like parliamentary house than a palace. Nevertheless, I took some pictures there. The guards marching inside look like they were tired, in fact they were quite sloppy.

One of the evenings I took a walk to Kensington Park. Its like Central Park in New York. Very nice and quiet with nature all around you, the water fowls were being fed by park visitors, the trees and flowers were all in their final stages of bloom. Of course, the cool weather really help in the enjoyment of the park. It was a great escape from the urban landscape of the city, wish Singapore had one right smack in the middle of Shenton Way.

 On Sunday, I went to the weekend markets, first was Colombia Rd where they were selling plants and flowers. It was packed with locals and the plant and flower range was fantastic! Stall holders were shouting out prices similar to our local durian sellers and the customers were responding humorously, the atmosphere was fantastic! I really enjoyed Colombia Rd market!

Then I went to Camden market and was really let down by the Thailand style pasar malam atmosphere. The place was just full of immigrant Chinese and Indians selling Chatuchak style T-shirts at 3-4 times Chatuchak price! Every other stall was selling the same shit. I took a quick bite there and left disappointed, the rain didn't help either.

 

On Monday 27th Sept, I woke up late and was cursing myself because that meant I have less time as I was going to the RAF Museum. When I finally found my way there, I was awe struck!! Its was an absolutely amazing museum!! some of the aircraft inside were in flying condition!! I have never seen such a well kept aircraft museum! so much pride in their machines of war and how they won the war against the Nazis. Security in the museum was tight, I was caught several times crossing the line trying to get up close to the aircraft for pictures.

The most agonising part for me was my camera batteries running out of power!! I didn't make a count but I estimated no less than 50 aircraft were on display!! Lots of Spitfires and Hurricanes! The Battle of Britain hall was filled with German aircraft!! Me-109, Bf-110, He-111......etc. Some of the halls was under renovation so you can hardly see those aircraft except maybe for a tail or wingtip. Sadly the WW1 hanger was totally closed for upgrading and I didn't get to see the Se-5A. I had to be chased out of the museum as I didn't want to leave those magnificent looking aircraft but at last I had to leave.

 

The Imperial war museum was less impressive, most of the exhibits were repainted and looked new, there were tanks, aircraft, guns, mini submarines...etc.

There was a WW1 hall which was impressive though. They even made a stretch of trench with mannequins sound/light effects and the smell was horrible but realistic!! Quite eerie though as it was very dark.

 

Next up, Natural History Museum. I can't even begin to describe it. It was absolutely amazing. It saddens me to see such a magnificent museum knowing that most of the children of other parts of the world including Singapore will never get to enjoy the benefits of such a museum. It was literally filled with History, Real fossils, Dinosaur bones, specimens(This is the sad part though). Some of the collections were privately own till the museum bought them over after their owners deceased. I saw the extinct Dodo bird specimen which I had read about so much since I was little. Saw exotic birds and animals specimens which otherwise I will never get up close in nature. Basically, British explorers pilferaged the forest of the world in the 18th-19th century and put them all in this museum. Educational but sad.

I didn't get to enjoy good food while I was there, most of the time I went in Tesco and got my 2pound quick meal which consists of 2 sandwiches, a bag of crisp and Juice or coke. It was the cheapest/fastest way of filling my stomach. I had steak, fish and chips, burgers, nothing fantastic.

I also visited Hannants which was just next door to RAF Museum, they had excellent displays of finished works there but the store itself was a let down as it was not well stocked.

The Underground(or the Tube as its more commonly called) was easy to navigate compared to Paris and Tokyo, of course being in English help too.

It was an enjoyable trip for me overall, most of the enjoyment being in the RAF Museum. As I left London, it was entering early stages of Autumn and I can see hints of it in the trees. There's a bit of nostalgia when you sense the change of seasons, we don't get that often in Singapore. It's a nice feeling.