Ok so just a quick update before I fly off for another 2 weeks. Just back from my Narita trip yesterday and boy, I have to say this was by far the best Japan trip ever. Firstly, I had my annual flight check assessment on board and I passed! So that's a relief, because this is not an aircraft which I am very familiar so it was a huge weight off my shoulders! The night before I was in my room reading all my manuals!

Secondly, I had the most awesome and wildest crew for Cairns that were mostly my age group and I finally got a chance to experience nightlife in Japan. After dinner at a ramen place, we headed off to an open karaoke joint where it was open mic so you just choose a song and sing in front of the entire bar. Pretty kick-ass time with other airline crew from British Airways and Air Mauritus also joining us! (Big pity I can't sing my usual chinese fare though, since I'm the only chinese!) It's kinda weird at first singing in front of everyone but we got the hang of it and boy did we let loose. I chose some songs and before I got to the stage, someone else just ran up and sang my song even though I chose it! Haha, not that I mind though. So damm bloody high on just my pineapple juice. I suspected somebody must have spiked my drink with vodka. Haha.

That wasn't the end - clubbing after that at 3am in the morning walking down the 0 degrees freezing street to the club and partying the night away with more crew from other airlines. You wouldn't believe our flight back the next day, you should have seen all our faces - hungover, exhausted and to be honest, we didn't really give a shit about the flight back because we were just too damm tired.

Didn't have time to take any photos too, wish I did though!

So 3 more movies for this month!

INVICTUS



Quite possibly yet another typical underdog-winning sports movie, but there was so much more to it that the rugby wasn't the main highlight. It's a powerful show about racial discrimination and colour, but more importantly I really enjoyed the way South Africa used sports to unite the nation, something which Singapore is trying to do but I think we have better luck at winning Asian Idol again.

black-or-white-o-meter: 5/5 !

IT'S COMPLICATED



Another Meryl Streep movie which I didn't want to miss, this time slightly disappointing in a movie which had no direction and an ending similar to how the movie started, so it was just going nowhere. Not the best show, unfortunately.

avril-lavigne-o-meter: 2.5/5

UP IN THE AIR



Obviously, being in the airline industry, I had to watch this and suffice to say, it was a joy ride as I truely understood what George Clooney was going through. Extremely funny if you can catch the jokes about frequent flyer points, the high flyer club and if you know what ORD or SDF means when they talk. Otherwise, it's a very interesting movie about air travellers and how technology is influencing the way we work. Go catch it!

chicken-or-beef-o-meter: 4.5/5

Alright so it's my US holiday up next in Utah, Vegas and The Big Apple. My aunts are already there and they told me how great the shopping is and oh, I just can't wait. Gonna feel very sorry for my credit card. Somebody, anybody, please steal it from me before I leave.

Some items I might be getting! If I'm reallllllly tempted!

Tumi cufflinks and cufflinks box!





Tumi / Coach wallets!





Tumi messenger bag!



Ahhhh I'm being tumi-fied. Ok see you guys in the year of the tiger. Mahjong, ban luck and poker is on, so please bring your cheque books, house and car keys. Thanks.

YES, THIS BLOG IS STILL ALIVE AND KICKING.

Thank you spammers, for keeping this alive but please ply your trade elsewhere, thanks. Jermsair's blog is NC16 so find somewhere else to put your sexy ads.

So 14 days away from home and flying every single day. Trust me, it's times like this when I start to wonder what the hell am I doing this for, getting my body clock screwed up all the time. Not to mention there's always so much drama flying on the Airbus 330, my least favourite plane. We've had the lavatory smoke alarm going off, emergency call button activated, drunk passengers on almost every flight to deal with on top of the fact that January's load is probably one of the heaviest in the year for most airlines. And take into the account I was the sole Singaporean crew on the entire trip and you can imagine how lonely and homesick I was, if you've been following me on twitter.

But, as they say, the show must go on so I'll let the photos do as much talking as possible!

BANGKOK







Everyone knows, Bangkok is my second home. I would literally migrate there before you can even say CHATUCHAK WEEKENED MARKET, which unfortunately I couldn't visit because most my layovers were on a weekday. I can safely say Bangkok is one of the easiest places to navigate in the world, There have an extremely inter-connected MRT and BTS system which could bring you to even the crankiest and most ulu areas of Bangkok with less than a dollar.

And my job was made so much simpler because I stayed in the hotel just beside Asok station, which is in the heart of town.



Dear Thailand, Christmas is over. Please take down your Christmas tree. Thank you.



Emporium was my first stop!



There was a LEGO showcase in the mall.















Awesome stuff!

Next up was Mah Boon Krong (MBK), the name synonymous with all Singaporeans!



Suan Lum Night Market



And the famous red light district of Bangkok, Patpong





Bangkok would never be complete without - yes, you've guessed it. FOOOOOOOD.

Here's what I ate in 48 hours.

Tom Yum Goong with fried spring rolls



Probably 10 different plates of mango sticky rice - one after every meal!





It was sooo good that I actually da pao it back to Singapore to eat. It's pretty amazing I don't have a mango growing out of my head now. Or a pineapple, as you'll find out later.

Pad Thai with red ruby



Green curry prawns with rice



Local coconut pancake



Cocounut ice cream with corn and atap chee



Red curry seafood rice



Green curry chicken rice with guava shake



Thai pineapple rice



Oh my gosh it's 2am and I'm really craving for mango sticky rice. NOW.

MELBOURNE

I spent almost half my time in Melbourne and it wasn't really pleasant because it's summer at the moment and when I say summer I don't mean Singapore type of summer. It's really sweltering hot over there - so much that you don't sweat at all but you just get red all over and completely dehydrated all the time. painful to say the least. There was even one day when the temperature hit 40 degrees! I didn't even step out of my room.

Flinders Street station





Yarra River





Crown Entertainment Complex







SHE'S FIRE BURNING FIRE BURNING ON THE DANCEFLOOR..



In melbourne, no fear if you can't find a cab. Just get a horse.



So weekend was here and decided to indulge in some local soccer action and watch a live match! Melbourne vs Perth, live at Etihad Stadium!

These are the away fans from Perth congregating at Federation Square before heading to the stadium. They are certainly a passionate bunch, singing non-stop all the way!







Welcome to Etihad!







WOO HOOOOOO!!





DEAR LADS, THIS IS AN A-LEAGUE MATCH. PLEASE DON'T BE A LOSER AND WEAR YOUR GERRARD AND LAMPARD JERSEY. YOUR TEAM AIN'T THAT GREAT EITHER WAY. THANK YOU.





Inside the stadium!











A total of 20,488 fans in a 50,000 capacity stadium. Not too bad!

Kick-off at 7pm!





For safety reasons, I decided to sit with the home fans. Don't wanna risk an away victory and getting whacked by a beer bottle on the way out!





The goals came in fast and furious. 2-0 up within 10 minutes.



In case you're wondering, this is an INDOOR stadium with a retractable roof, and it was stunning. What would I give to even run a mere metre of this amazing pitch. Imagine playing a match at 7pm in front of 20,000 people in an indoor pitch with air-conditioning. IMAGINE THAT. What would I give just to be there for one minute!





I heard that on New Year's eve, the stadium hosted a mega dance party for the public with djs and food and booze. Man, I should have requested to fly there!

The final score was 6-2 to the home side. At least I can say my money was well worth it, not paying to see a match without goals! Although many goals were down to horrendous defending from Perth. It made S-league seem more superior. We had backpasses that went astray, own goal, penalty, lots of cards so all in all, a pretty entertaining match!

This is goal no.5 from the penalty spot and the video is on facebook.



Red Rooster for supper! My favourite seafood platter and fried pineapple fritters!





Hopefully, just hopefully, my next live match would be in UK and the stadium would be St. James Park.

SYDNEY

Iz drove down from Canberra to meet me so that was a huge highlight in my trip. At least i didn't have to feel alone for once!

Sydney Opera House





Dinner at a German restaurant!

Fried pork strips



Veal with potatoes



Thai chilli mussels



Next day was off to the Sydney Fish Market.







Sashimi for starters





fish and chips with calamari



Baby barramundi



HAWAII

Last stop in Honolulu! Wasn't really crazy about this because it's only a 24 hour stopover and I'm going to spend 2 weeks in US next week anyway.

Fried fish rice for breakfast!



Strolling along Waikiki beach







THE STUPID FACTORY.









And for lunch, it's one of Hawaii's famous dishes, garlic prawns with rice at the Shrimp Shack!





Topping it off with a pina colada IN a pineapple WITH a whole pineapple!





Almost regretted ordering the whole pineapple! There's no way I could have finished that! So I decided to da pao back to the plane to eat!



But ooh, let me tell you. That was the best pineapple in the whole wide world. Very sweet, not too sour and extremely juicy. Mind you, it was the most expensive pineapple as well - US$10. That was more than twice of what my pina colada costs!

The Apple store!







Forget Gucci.

Buy PUCCI.



The only thing that I bought - a keychain string consisting of 12 keychains for US$10. Nice!



Alright that was my 14-day adventure. Honestly, I'd rather not to this type of trips anymore. Maybe once a year is fine because it's way too tiring. The allowance is pretty good of course but I don't think it's very worth it to be flying so much. Even now I'm still feeling very fatigued.

2 movies to start the year!

BROTHERS



A war-related love story starring Tobey Maguire, this is one kick ass movie you shouldn't miss. Yes I know the reviews have been pretty bad but seriously, Straits Times Life? You trust their journalists? The ones who watched Avatar 5 times? Come on, TRUST ME. I am the ultimate movie critic! Don't miss this, I'm sure you will tear at the end.

swingout-sisters-o-meter: 5/5 !

LEGION



I love movies about angels so I wasn't about to miss this for the world and sad to say, it was pretty damm disappointing. The movie mirrors a typical zombie show and though I applaud it's indie-like roots, it proved to be quite boring throughout.

send-me-an-angel-o-meter: 1/5

Ok back to normality with Cairns/Narita tonight and then it's a 2 week vacation to the States! Will try to update this as I go along.

Thanks and I will see you for poker and mahjong in 3 weeks.