Friday, October 27, 2006
One week on...
Okay, here's a quick run-down, update, and so on.
My itinerary for the coming weeks:
Wed 8 Nov - fly out to Singapore. Cack myself. Arrive around dinnertime on November 9th, after losing a day flying and going through a few timezones. And crappy Julia Roberts movies. And cans of aeroplane beer. Check in my hotel (Hangout Hotel) and collapse. Or, depending how bad the jet-lag is, collapse into bed, and stare, eyes wide open, at ceiling for 8 hours.
Sat 11 Nov - start the 16 day Singapore - Thailand tour. This starts in Singapore and ends in, ahh, take a guess. It also stops in Kuala Lumpur, a city famous for sharing it's name with the short multi-coloured factory workers in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
If you're really interested, here's details of the tour:
http://www.imtravdossiers.com/sasb.pdf
Mon 27 Nov - Finish tour in Bangkok. Cack myself. Try to work out which of the many Bangkok scams I'll be a victim of first. There is actually an Official Bangkok Scam Tour, organised by the government, which takes you round each of the scams, rips you off one by one, steals your rucksack, and plants some drugs on you, then leaves you stranded in the middle of Thailand. Strangely, it's free. I've no idea how they make their money.
Mon 4 Dec - Fly from Bangkok to Sydney (dates subject to change). Arrive at the airport, realise I haven't got a hostel booked, cack myself.
Thu 14 Dec - Fly from Sydney to Hong Kong. This date is more than likely to change. It all depends on whether I'm happily enjoying myself on the set of Home and Away, or have been stung by a stingray, bitten by a mosquito, or checked-out by a Czech girl.
Fri 22 Dec - Fly from Hong Kong back to London. Get home, scratch mosquito bites, wonder where those small genital lumps have come from, ponder on whether I've got the time/money/inclination to do any Christmas shopping, or sod it, I'll just give everyone the gift of my company.
Voila. As I said, all of these dates are likely to change once I arrive in Bangkok, but everything up until then is pretty much set in stone.
My itinerary for the coming weeks:
Wed 8 Nov - fly out to Singapore. Cack myself. Arrive around dinnertime on November 9th, after losing a day flying and going through a few timezones. And crappy Julia Roberts movies. And cans of aeroplane beer. Check in my hotel (Hangout Hotel) and collapse. Or, depending how bad the jet-lag is, collapse into bed, and stare, eyes wide open, at ceiling for 8 hours.
Sat 11 Nov - start the 16 day Singapore - Thailand tour. This starts in Singapore and ends in, ahh, take a guess. It also stops in Kuala Lumpur, a city famous for sharing it's name with the short multi-coloured factory workers in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
If you're really interested, here's details of the tour:
http://www.imtravdossiers.com/sasb.pdf
Mon 27 Nov - Finish tour in Bangkok. Cack myself. Try to work out which of the many Bangkok scams I'll be a victim of first. There is actually an Official Bangkok Scam Tour, organised by the government, which takes you round each of the scams, rips you off one by one, steals your rucksack, and plants some drugs on you, then leaves you stranded in the middle of Thailand. Strangely, it's free. I've no idea how they make their money.
Mon 4 Dec - Fly from Bangkok to Sydney (dates subject to change). Arrive at the airport, realise I haven't got a hostel booked, cack myself.
Thu 14 Dec - Fly from Sydney to Hong Kong. This date is more than likely to change. It all depends on whether I'm happily enjoying myself on the set of Home and Away, or have been stung by a stingray, bitten by a mosquito, or checked-out by a Czech girl.
Fri 22 Dec - Fly from Hong Kong back to London. Get home, scratch mosquito bites, wonder where those small genital lumps have come from, ponder on whether I've got the time/money/inclination to do any Christmas shopping, or sod it, I'll just give everyone the gift of my company.
Voila. As I said, all of these dates are likely to change once I arrive in Bangkok, but everything up until then is pretty much set in stone.
I take it all back...
I take it all back. I love leaving do collections. They're fab. And anyone who says otherwise is just talking out of their small-donkey.
Despite sending round the "don't get me a leaving present", the guys at work did get me something, and it was fab. It is a gadget with solar panel wings, that'll charge up my iPod / mobile phone / camera. Attachments sold separately, iPod not included, always read instructions before using.
Genius. Pure genius.
God, it's great being a nerd.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Mike's leaving-do collection
I hate leaving-do collections.
That little obligatory "bung some spare change in an envelope, then someone's gotta go out and buy something as a leaving present, but we don't really know them very well, so let's get them some crap" really winds me up. We've had guys who've worked here for 8 years, and walked away with a posh pen. Errrrr, no. That has about as much sentimentality as a bowl of corn flakes
So, I told the guys in my office. No collections.
> Disclaimer: we aren't having a leaving do collection for me.
> I detest these, they're painful and unnecessary. If you're gonna
> miss me and my award-winning sense of humour, buy me a pint.
> If you aren't and won't, then don't.
To back this up, I sent round a collection envelope earlier, with the following message
on the front:
> Because Mike has vowed to throw any an**ly-retentive leaving-do
> presents directly in the bin, unopened, please tick the box next to
> your name, and slip an "IOU a pint of beer" note in this envelope.
It worked, I have an envelope with a fair few IOUs in it. Should be a good leaving
do night tomorrow...!
That little obligatory "bung some spare change in an envelope, then someone's gotta go out and buy something as a leaving present, but we don't really know them very well, so let's get them some crap" really winds me up. We've had guys who've worked here for 8 years, and walked away with a posh pen. Errrrr, no. That has about as much sentimentality as a bowl of corn flakes
So, I told the guys in my office. No collections.
> Disclaimer: we aren't having a leaving do collection for me.
> I detest these, they're painful and unnecessary. If you're gonna
> miss me and my award-winning sense of humour, buy me a pint.
> If you aren't and won't, then don't.
To back this up, I sent round a collection envelope earlier, with the following message
on the front:
> Because Mike has vowed to throw any an**ly-retentive leaving-do
> presents directly in the bin, unopened, please tick the box next to
> your name, and slip an "IOU a pint of beer" note in this envelope.
It worked, I have an envelope with a fair few IOUs in it. Should be a good leaving
do night tomorrow...!
Monday, October 16, 2006
Welcome to Mike's blog
Hi. Welcome.
Because the internet isn't already full of enough random pointless pieces of text, today, I've started adding my two-penneth worth. Or two-cents worth, if you're American.
Welcome to my blog.
Mike
Because the internet isn't already full of enough random pointless pieces of text, today, I've started adding my two-penneth worth. Or two-cents worth, if you're American.
Welcome to my blog.
Mike
