I entered the racetrack bar. Outside the picture window, the horses were approaching the starting gate for race number 5. Johnny ‘Sideways’ Jones leaned towards me, nearly spilling his drink… Read more…

“Make me paranoid”, said Alice to the White Rabbit. The Rabbit grinned, twitched its ears, and pulled a pocket watch out of its waistcoat. “I’m late!” it cried. Alice shrugged. “Internet online banking security in Asia”, the White Rabbit said. Alice fainted. Read more…

Have you ever noticed, how, far too often, real life intrudes on your very comfortable fantasy world? Oh, botheration! as my best friend Winnie the Pooh- I was speaking with him just the other day! - used to say. Just as you are ready to triumphantly this or triumphantly that - I always think about the woman I was destined to marry till I saw her holding hands by the side of the road with somebody else - mean old real life intrudes. Read more…

You know the feeling? Romancing, shoot outs with the local drug cartel, stopping rogue generals from launching missiles at London…and talk about bringing back alive those pesky dinosaurs still hiding out in remote Borneo jungles! Southeast Asia is fun, but it can be tiring. Read more…

Don’t forget your passport! A friend of mine – we will protect his identity by calling him "Big Idiot" – booked a flight from San Francisco to Bangkok via Tokyo, and in his happiness didn’t notice that the last employee at San Francisco International to handle his passport had somehow failed to give it back to him. Read more…

Which is the greatest city in the world? Greatest for what? For walking! For having Fun! I asked my dog this very question. With a few wags of his tail he made it clear the answer is a toss up between Bangkok and Paris. Not Seoul or Hanoi, because there they would cook and eat him. Read more…

Regretfully, there are so few places these days where a simple day trip can lead to being violently torn apart and eaten. Pity, that... Read more…

Hey, I’m down with Islam… great architecture, great poetry, great teachings, and breathtakingly beautiful women. What more can you ask of a world religion? Ever since I hitchhiked through North Africa I’ve been enamored of this truly great global religion. And in Southeast Asia I’ve been the grateful recipient of dependable Islamic warmth and hospitality. Not to mention their restaurants are sparkling clean. Read more…

If you've read my last blog entry, you will know I have been traveling a little - I’ve spent a week in Singapore seeing some of my clients and business associates and taking a 3-day Middle Kingdom respite. Read more…

I am on my first sojourn out of the Middle Kingdom for quite a few years - well, not technically true, I have travelled outside the Great Firewall of China a few times, but mostly on business. This time, I have a few chill-out days where I have no business obligations, meetings or planning days so this means I am free to prowl Singapore's underground shopping mega-complexes, hang 'gibbon-like' from the railings in the public transport and find little quiet corners to sip sugar-sweet Indian Milk Chai, rediscover the delights of curry-puffs, pick lime-leaves from my teeth while gobbling bowls of Laksa, rip my way through layers of Roti Channai, chopstick-pick my way through extra juicy morsels of Roasted Chicken and Crispy Pork, negotiate Chilli Crab carapace, seek out Spicy Stingray and Banana Leaf Satay, slurp durian ice kajiang (a tower of shaved ice, mixed with the pulp of the fruit) and enjoy the cool sea breeze across the Harbour with a cup of Barley Water and a tall Kopi-O. Read more…