Musings by Grace Chng

4 days spent reading proved a luxury. It’s great to shut down. It’s also a terrific way of doing some thinking. Ideas come to me when I’m not really thinking about thinking. So while I had some “shut down” time, I also had a list of new ideas to think about.

Club Med was a surprise to me. I’ve heard about it of course: food and drinks plenty, lots of activities to keep children and adults occupied and entertainment provided as well. I found all this true with lots of fun thrown in as well.

Drinks - all that you can take in - flow whole day. Beer, wine and liquor are available as long as the bar is opened which means practically from 8 am to past midnight. Every night is party night at Club Med. Guests are entertained to shows put up by the Gentle Officers or GOs (pronounced geos) who are the guest/relationship officers. They are yoga, gym, archery, fitness, tennis, sailing etc GOs and managers by day. But by night, they turn comedians, dancers and even magicians.

I was not bored in the 4 nights I spent there at Club Med Cherating, last week. I did my routine workouts in a gym - sparse but with the right equipment - attended some workout classes like body scuplt and step aerobics and spent the rest of the time reading. The breeze from the sea kept my friends and I cool even though the day temperature was over 32 degrees C. I won third prize in an archery contest - I’ve a medal to prove it - while my friend came out top. Then she hopped over to the tennis court, beat a handful of guys and got the third prize there too.

My other friends meanwhile, were sleeping, doing yoga or water aerobics. I would have gone for the trapeze act- ie learn to be a trapeze artist -  if I hadn’t stepped on a pebble and almost twisted my ankle. While an ice pack helped keep the swelling down, the risk of aggravating the injury was high in the trapeze event. Next time…..

I’ve 12 buffets at Club Med in 4 days. That’s terrible in the sense that I don’t usually eat buffets but it’s also nice because I could choose from Italian to local to Japanese to pizzas, hamburgers and steaks.

I would recommend keeping away from the wine if you’re a connoiseur. Beer is good because it’s fresh. Coffee was great because it had the Nespresso machine which provided us with our caffeine fix throughout the day.

The rooms are comfortable. I would give the housekeeping service 6 out of 10. The tea sachets were not replenished, neither was the tea cup - so obviously used and dirty cos there’s a tea bag in it standing in some drops of tea - washed. But the GOs were friendly and talkative. Be ready to have one or two GO sit at your table to keep you company during meal times. It’s a Club Med thing.

Overall, I would give the experience a 7 out of 10.

So I was in San Francisco earlier this week. Landed on Sunday and what a change the city was from Singapore, I mean in terms of temperature. In Singapore,  where 33 degrees Celsius is sweltering and made me run into the air-con all the time, a cool 15-18 degrees Celsius and windy at that, was so, so welcome. It was like walking in the air-con room. 

But San Francisco isn’t the same in some ways. As in January when I was last there, the younger beggars I’d seen then, were still around. Workers made redundant perhaps? 

Also the popular stores like Virgin Superstore and Disney have disappeared. So sad because Virgin was the place I bought my DVDs. It’s a store I simply had to go everytime I was there. Disney store right in the middle of Union Square is also gone. 

These two places were landmarks in Frisco. Don’t know where Borders in Frisco is? Look for Disney and it’s next to it. If you don’t know where the Apple store is, look for Virgin, it’s across the road.

Some things don’t change, however. Victoria’ Secret in the same building as the Westin Francis Drake hotel is still there. But the B&O audio shop two doors from it is gone. Not that I’ve entered the 2 shops but they’ve been there for as long as I’ve remembered. 

One thing different in Frisco is the shoppers. The taxi driver I spoke to said business has fallen by half. Macy’s and Nike superstore are not as brisk as they used to be. 

What was brisk was business at the Apple store. When I went there on Tuesday, the day after Apple announced the new 13″ Macbook Pro, there were tons of people there. Everyone was buying Macbooks and iPods and accessories. It’s the same when I went to the store in January. 

Some things don’t change, thank goodness.

There’s nothing really much to see in Macau. Well, at least i didn’t get to see much except for the ruins of St Paul’s church and then walking along the alleys that led out of the ruins. That’s quite fun. 

All that’s left of the ruins is a wall which had some intricate carvings. The authorities have built a couple of rooms to showcase some of the paintings and ornaments used by the priests and church people of that time. All quite nicely done. 

It’s raining when we arrived there, a slight drizzle that seemed to go on forever. I’m told it’s like that at the start of spring. The cobble stones are firm, not slippery but do watch out if you’re wearing old shoes. The steps and lane that led out of the church grounds into the small alleyways full of shops are kinda steep. One woman fell and landed on her bump. Her beau next to her wasn’t fast enough to prevent her fall! 

The shops lining the alleys sell clothes, traditional chinese medicine, gifts etc. Many were shops selling almond cookies and other savoury stuff. What my attention was the huge bbq pork - ba kua - they were twice the size of what’s selling in Singapore. Different types, spicy and sweet, peppery or garlic. Apart from pork, there’s venison, chicken and veal. I did have a taste but I didn’t buy cos they sure tasted of ajinomoto. 

My friends snorted when I told them I was going to Macau for the “history and culture”. Well, they’re quite right or I didn’t make the effort to see more of the place. Apart from the ruins which seemed to attract hordes of Filipinos and mainland Chinese, there’s the casinos. I do suppose they’re an attraction. Macau has the largest concentration of casinos and they’re the Las Vegas type - OTT - over the top. There’s the venetion, four seasons, crowne, mgm and wynds. 

Personally, venetian is just too crowded. I like Wynds, so did my friends. It’d a bit more class, not so OTT and quieter. I didn’t drop any money at the casino but if you’ve made big bundles of $$$ at the tables, then you surely can afford the Chanel bags, Tiffany rings and Rolex watches. Most of these brands could only be found in Wynds. 

There;re 3 things I like about Macau. Food, food and food. The Portugese-Macau food is really good and affordable. For the four of us, each meal costs us about HK$250 -HK$300, that’s about S$50 to S$60. Plus alcohol is really cheap. 

We bought wine at duty free (hey we’re on holiday) and picked up a couple bottles of Portugese wine 2006  which were about $20 each. Dry but allow it to breathe and it tasted good. Best restaurants to go to are the popular Pinnochio and Fernando, I prefer the latter. Located at the beach, about 20 minutes from the venetian, it’s got ambience and good food. Try the clams and crabs, finger licking good. If you’re in for chinese food, then the Lei Garden in Venetian is simply yummy. Very good service, I was impressed. And the quality of the food, superb. The steamed fish was done just nice, so was the garlic green veg. 

Ok, so where did we stay? I didn’t like the casinos, it would be too crowded and noisy. So since I was booking the hotels, I chose the Westin Resorts which was on the beach. An older hotel, but bigger rooms, more spacious, good service. 20minutes from airport and town centre ie the venetian. 

Also if you’re a gym fan like me, it’s free. In the casinos, you’ll have to pay at least HK$200 - S$40 - for use of the gym. Don’t bother with the spa. Too expensive. We found one in town called Nirvana. Doesn’t put you in nirvana, but not bad and the prices were reasonable. 

Would I go back? Macau was a one-time experience. I rather wing over to Hongkong, anytime.  Yes it’ll be noisier but the food is really out of this world.

Meat, they eat lots of meat in Germany. Veal, beef cheeks, rump steaks, salmon, pike-perch (it’s a fish) and of course, sausages of different kinds. I do eat meat just that I prefer vegetables and tofu. But I must admit that the veal and beef cheeks I’d was superb. Cooked just nice and melts in the mouth. 

One major difference I found: shops in Germany are closed on Sundays. Coming from Asia where shops are open every day, it’s a surprise. Even in the US, shops are open. I did have an English book but I always would like to have an extra book or two because I go through them rather quickly.  Anyway, I managed by sleeping earlier so that I would read less and preserve whatever English reading material I’d. 

So what do Germans do on weekends? My guide, Urte Lutzen said they get up late, walk in the parks - and there’re many beautiful ones - visit museums, walk through flea markets, go to the mountains or countryside. 

After eight days in Germany and five cities I was tired. My 10 other travelling companions from Europe, Asia and South America had visited at least 10 organisations in 8 days. Unlike a holiday tour which is physically demanding, this tour was both physically and mentally draining. 

I still found the tour interesting and in the following weeks I’ll be writing in the straits times about the new interactive 3D technologies, new tech in BMW cars, LED lights that can carry data and others. 

Hopefully, I’ll find the time to return to Germany for a holiday. 

 I took the minimum cables with me on this German trip. Left the iPhone charger at home. Took just one USB cable to charge the phone to the computer. It worked, not that it had any impact on the weight of the luggage (I’ve been collecting paper material and it’s weighing the bag down). 

Most hotels these days have iPod docks that allow you to play music from your iPod. In the business class no frills hotels I’m staying in on this trip, there’re no such amenities (except for the first hotel in Frankfurt). So the iPhone’s speaker is now great, because I can listen to it without ear phones. Great stuff. 

Speaking of ear phones, Apple’s in-ear headphones is great. Nice cables, great to feel it and it fits nicely in the ears. THe ear buds come in three sizes, small, medium and large. And the sound is good. Not too expensive at US$79.