planes, trains, and...

...walking

7hr flight to singapore
films = waking sleeping beauty (doco on disney animation circa 1984-94), and beauty and the beast (which I'd never seen before)

disembark for re-fueling
wander around changi airport in a low-caffeen-daze
mega-expensive shit-coffee
back on the plane for another 7 hr flight, this time to Dubai.
films = Megamind (what is it with me and kids films this trip?)

disembark at Emirates Dubai to swap planes after a 3 hr lay-over

1st hit of culture shock - little things (like the toilets) can take some getting used to.
better coffee (hate to say it, but I actully went to starbucks, and it wasn't bad - the slice of cake nearly put me into a sugar-coma, and the exchange rate sucks... but it was well worth the effort)

back on another plane - this time bound for Zurich.
no film this time - slept, finished a book.

Arrival Zurich - super-easy customs and baggage collection

train station = easy layout and ticketing meant I was on my way quicker than expected.

20 mins later and I'm wandering around the industrial/renovated areas in a labarynth of weird one-way, dead-end streets... Iphone into data roaming mode to get the map switched on, and away we go (gotta love technology)

it's cold (even for me), y'know; breath in the air, snow/ice on the ground (only covering sections that are untracked - ie:not on main roads)

thankfully it's only another 10 mins to the hotel - upstairs to drop the pack, download my photos, and check if the "charging station" in dubai fried my laptops power charger (universal voltage)

downstairs for a quick bite, hotels resteraunt is the only thing locally open (and I don't feel like wandering again - so $20 pasta with butter and cheese (actually much better than it sounds)

wake up on thursday 20th Jan at 0730 brisbane time
transit of 25+hrs
finally drop into bed at 0040 on 22nd Jan Zurich time.

Photos



most amazing sight of yesterday = singapore harbour (sooooo many ships, brain overloading...)




I always pick-up a mascot, last time I was in Vancouver it was a little clip on koala - this time it's his bigger brother Kevin




part of the last fillm I boomed, was set in the indian mountain ranges near Pune - sometimes life throws a little in-joke your way, so; I found myself flying over these mountains on the way to dubai.




dubai is all roads and massive industrial-sized-housing-estates (at least that's the way it appears when you fly in through a heavy layer of clouds, and rain)




since I only had a few hours til my connecting flight, I didn't want to exit the terminal and attempt to hit town (20kms away?)




sunset as we fly over iraq (never thought I type those words...)




touchdown switzerland




have a quick look at the time/date in brisbane WTF!?

this morning started with my second hit of culture shock
GERMAN INFOMERCIALS - i've got no idea what the ultra-excited german person is saying, but I really want that super-spinning mop... (love that the genre is so well established the ONLY difference was the accent and language of the v/o - seriously, you drop the audio, and it could play in almost any other country - right down to the dodgy acting, from the overly-happy-pretty-people)

ok, time to pack, find a coffee, and hit the train station for a little journey into austria - and the ski-fields (wooooooooo hoooooooooo)

cheers, Ian