September 2010 Newsletter

Tuesday, 14th September, 2010

August is a lovely month for me as I celebrate my birthday in August! We had a lovely long weekend in Hervey Bay, north of Brisbane and the weather was kind to us.  Not a lot of shopping was done but we did sample the local food!  We also travelled to Geelong (near Melbourne) in late August for the wedding of friends Brendan and Lisa, the weather was good again and the rain stayed away when the bride and groom left the church.

Planning to be in Singapore in October look out for ART Singapore it’s on  7 – 11 Oct, an  annual event  ART Singapore is a contemporary Asian art fair held on Level Four of the Suntec City shopping mall. Art fanatics and potential buyers come to browse over US$30 million worth of works from both established and emerging artists.

Meanwhile in Bangkok the Bangkok International Gift and Houseware Fair

Is on 19 – 24 Oct at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC)

Tuesday to Friday 10am-6pm and Saturday and Sunday 10am-9pm

They have a great array of oriental textiles and fabrics plus Thai handicrafts, candles, very early Christmas knick-knacks, candles, toys and stationery.

 

Travel Hint

Taxi or limousine can add greatly to the cost of your travel from airport to hotel so why not consider public transport. Many cities now have excellent train lines which transport you quickly from airport to city. Some even have facilities in the city to enable you to check your luggage in before boarding the train on your return to the airport.

• Bangkok – The link from Suvarnabhumi airport has two lines, one an express line from the airport to Makassan in downtown Bangkok you can then transfer to the subway Blue line. The second commuter service serves the eastern suburbs of Bangkok and stops at all station and interchanges with subway stations. The trip takes 15 minutes on the express line.
• Brisbane – Brisbane airtrain operates from both the Domestic and International Terminals to Roma Street in the city with connections to all Brisbane lines and also operates to Queensland’s Gold Coast.   It takes 25 minutes to travel from the airport to the city.
• Beijing – The Airport Express has stops at terminal 2 and 3 and passengers travel to Sanyuanqiao or Dongzhimen stations where you can change to lines 2, 10 or 13 on the Beijing subway.  Allow 20 minutes to travel into the city
• Hong Kong – A high speed train operates from the airport to Hong Kong Island with stops at Tsing Yi and Kowloon stations. The trip takes 25 minutes.
• Kuala Lumpur – KLIA Express is a sophisticated train with washrooms and plenty of room for luggage. It tales 30 minutes to travel to KL Sentral and you can interchange there to KL’s rail systems, KL Monorail, Kelana Jaya Line and the Ampang Line.
• Melbourne – No train although there are currently two bus services one which has connections to the city’s to major hotels.
• Shanghai – The Shanghai Magleve is a great experience as it is a high speed train that tales 8 minutes to travel the 30km from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Longyang Road Station, my only critic is that there is not a great deal of room for your suitcase.

Singapore – Not as convenient as the train is a short walk from Terminals 2 and 3 however for arrivals at the Budget Terminal and Terminal one takes the Airport Skytrain to terminal 2. Again there is limited room for luggage and it is a commuter train so can often be crowed. However a cheap alternative, the train runs from the airport to City hall which is central Singapore.

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