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Jan. 30th, 2006
Operation Ealing...
Jan. 30th, 2006 11:51 amSo, 2 weeks post on the mat when I got in this morning. Being up at 4.30am helped... no idea how long I'll be operating this ffar out of time zone, I am expecting to crash and burn in a few hours.
Mail from the solicitor shows we have a couple of minor outstanding issues, but we're getting close. One tick box left on their standard check list before we are ready for Exchange of Contracts - so hopefully about 2 weeks left!
Mail from the solicitor shows we have a couple of minor outstanding issues, but we're getting close. One tick box left on their standard check list before we are ready for Exchange of Contracts - so hopefully about 2 weeks left!
Tonal Dissonance
Jan. 30th, 2006 01:54 pmHave you seen Lost in Translation? Much of the action takes place in a rather upmarket Tokyo hotel with a huge bar which has live music. There are some comical scenes where they explore some of the range of live entertainment you get in Asian hotels.
I’ve done a little travel around the Pacific Rim and one of the few constants is the rather bizarre hotel bar you get in the main global chains. It’ll generally be quite big, a place for business meetings and, often, where the weary Western traveller will succumb to the lure of a Steak Sandwich and Fries.(Ok, well you try to eat real Asia food for a week or more, including the bits of the animal you never even wanted to imagine existed and then see what you do! That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.)
One of the other common threads is the entertainment. Typically a duo, sometimes Western, but more likely Asian, just not necessarily local to the country you’re in. It’s really rather hard to describe unless you’ve been there, but I’ll use a couple of examples from the last week.
In Japan, I tried the “Skyline” bar – which had a great view of Tokyo Bay. I was the only person in there and the staff informed me that there was a cover charge for sitting at a table. I chose the bar and ordered a beer. In the corner, a Double Bass player and a Harpist were playing what can only be described as Bond mood music. You know; the bits that get played while Bond is doing something non-threatening but discovering yet another piece of the puzzle that he has to solve.
It was quaint and rather charming but at the same time more than a little odd.
Last night, I had my second night in Korea. So here’s another little dirty secret of business travel, you do and see bug all. I arrived on Thursday night at a little after 9, got to the hotel at 11, fell into bed. Had meetings most of Friday, and in the evening had a couple of beers in the hotel bar in preparation for a 6am wake up call so I could head back to Incheon Airport and get my flight home.
The bar, “Hunter’s Tavern” was advertising Ingenue, their new headlining act, due on stage for 8pm. Apparently they played the best of Rock and Roll, Jazz, Ballads, R&B and Trance. Wow, I thought, you don’t see that every day.
I ordered another beer, served in an “authentic” British china beer mug, and waited.
They appeared on stage, a bunch of happy Korean kids speaking an English/Korean/California hybrid who announced they were on for 5 sets ending at 1am and then they started playing.
Words really do fail me. It’s not that they were bad – there are plenty of worse acts in the world – but they were different. I think it’s the same thing you get with Eurovision acts when somebody tries to sing in English but don’t really know the words.
After the first set they came into the audience to shake our hands and very very earnestly thank us for attending.
That’s Asia for you.
I’ve done a little travel around the Pacific Rim and one of the few constants is the rather bizarre hotel bar you get in the main global chains. It’ll generally be quite big, a place for business meetings and, often, where the weary Western traveller will succumb to the lure of a Steak Sandwich and Fries.(Ok, well you try to eat real Asia food for a week or more, including the bits of the animal you never even wanted to imagine existed and then see what you do! That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.)
One of the other common threads is the entertainment. Typically a duo, sometimes Western, but more likely Asian, just not necessarily local to the country you’re in. It’s really rather hard to describe unless you’ve been there, but I’ll use a couple of examples from the last week.
In Japan, I tried the “Skyline” bar – which had a great view of Tokyo Bay. I was the only person in there and the staff informed me that there was a cover charge for sitting at a table. I chose the bar and ordered a beer. In the corner, a Double Bass player and a Harpist were playing what can only be described as Bond mood music. You know; the bits that get played while Bond is doing something non-threatening but discovering yet another piece of the puzzle that he has to solve.
It was quaint and rather charming but at the same time more than a little odd.
Last night, I had my second night in Korea. So here’s another little dirty secret of business travel, you do and see bug all. I arrived on Thursday night at a little after 9, got to the hotel at 11, fell into bed. Had meetings most of Friday, and in the evening had a couple of beers in the hotel bar in preparation for a 6am wake up call so I could head back to Incheon Airport and get my flight home.
The bar, “Hunter’s Tavern” was advertising Ingenue, their new headlining act, due on stage for 8pm. Apparently they played the best of Rock and Roll, Jazz, Ballads, R&B and Trance. Wow, I thought, you don’t see that every day.
I ordered another beer, served in an “authentic” British china beer mug, and waited.
They appeared on stage, a bunch of happy Korean kids speaking an English/Korean/California hybrid who announced they were on for 5 sets ending at 1am and then they started playing.
Words really do fail me. It’s not that they were bad – there are plenty of worse acts in the world – but they were different. I think it’s the same thing you get with Eurovision acts when somebody tries to sing in English but don’t really know the words.
After the first set they came into the audience to shake our hands and very very earnestly thank us for attending.
That’s Asia for you.