Posted by Jerry on September 12th, 2006 — Posted in Journal, Technology, Travel
I use a PDA instead of a laptop when travelling – it makes my passage through airport security much faster – but I can’t seem to get the hang of writing with a stylus. Answer? a folding keyboard! I did have a folding keyboard – it lasted two trips away before the hinge broke. I was on a trip when this happened, so I looked around for a replacement.
I chose the iPaq bluetooth folding keyboard as I figured it would connect easily with my iPaq PDA, and it seemed a bit more robust than the other keyboard.
iPaq 2750 with iPaq bluetooth foldable keyboard – at Hotel Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Strengths
It connects easily with the iPaq PDA; the keyboard has a good strong feel to it – like a real keyboard – a good size for real typing; good battery life; and it folds up just a little larger than the PDA so it travels well in a small bag.
Weaknesses
The pullout holder works only in portrait mode – in landscape the angle is almost vertical. The solution I used was to trim the holder’s ‘fingers’ back with nail clippers – now the angle is great for landscape mode. Second weakness is that it feels only a little stronger than my previous keyboard, but so far so good.
Summary
This is a great portable keyboard. It is truly possible to leave the laptop at home on business trips and work comfortably on planes or in coffee shops or hotels. Yes you can use bluetooth devices on planes – after 20 minutes from takeoff and up to 20 minutes before landing. The keyboard is comfortable and responsive, and connects easily and reliably. It feels like a decent laptop keyboard on hard flat surfaces (use a book if on your lap). It is light and compact – easily fitting into a small bag, although it’s too big for most clothing pockets. Battery life is good – I used one set on a two-week trip, including flights from London to Australia, and the batteries were still good two weeks later.
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on July 26th, 2006 — Posted in Journal, Travel
Raffles is well worth seeing – for all that Singapore does surface glitz, Raffles is different. I suspect the place is far cleaner than in Somerset Maugham’s day. The Long Bar was full, but perfectly recreated in dark woods. Discrete signs say that you are welcome to sweep your peanut shells onto the floor – it is a tradition, despite Singapore’s stringent littering laws. It is all about ambience. The quaintly Victorian nude painting hangs above the bar and the ceiling fans sway lazily to and fro on their complex mechanism – despite the icy air conditioning: it adds to the atmosphere.
I found a seat in the Raffles courtyard. The floor singer was accompanied by electric piano and bass. She is good, even if the selection of material is ’60s Cobana style befitting an early Bond movie – but somehow it fits the setting perfectly.
A Singapore sling at Raffles is not to be hurried, but rather, savoured with friends. At SN$19.00 it is not a drink for the slaking of a thirst among the palm trees and white Colonial splendour of the inner courtyard.
The Sling is like a pink fruit punch with a dryness on the palette that tells you that somewhere beneath the pink froth and fruit lies a gin or vodka heart. It is served with a slice of pineapple and a glace cherry – which complements the fruity liquid. I suspect that one could easily consume several without realising the inexorable effect it will have
on one’s knees when you attempt to stand. But price will limit most people to just one.
I paid with a fifty – but had to ask later for the change. Interesting. Raffles is still a residential hotel, but in keeping with the Singaporean trend of squeezing some extra enticement for the Western dollar, the upper floors along the balconies are lined with
shops. Not just any shops either – Tiffany – the real jeweller, exclusive ceramic boutiques, and Georg Jensen are all there, along with some exclusive galleries.
As the clock swept closer to 11.00pm I decided to call it a night and walked back to the hotel. As I passed through the Marina Plaza shopping centre I found that Singapore does close at night – the shopkeepers were just locking up for the night – it would have been a
long day for them. Meanwhile another breed of Sinagporean came to life – the riggers and maintenance workers – mainly Indians – were stringing up tomorrow’s banners and festoons of lights.
Time for a quiet coffee in the hotel before sleep and the 0800 departure for the airport to catch the 0930 flight home.
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Posted by Jerry on July 25th, 2006 — Posted in Journal, Technology, Travel
I had always thought that people with travel irons were over-packed until I went on a business trip and found that the hotel had only one for 40+ conference delegates – all of whom wanted to look presentable to their European colleagues. At that point I decided that for certain destinations I would pack an iron, and not be waiting until 0600am on the morning of the conference to get my turn with the iron.
Enter the dual-voltage Korjo travel iron. This is a compact iron with a near-full-size teflon coated plate. It has a folding handle which doubles as the reservoir for the water – yes it is a fully functional steam iron – ideal for those creased cotton shirts.
The handle clicks securely into its upright position without any play so it has a positive feel. The steam function has no separate button – if you fill it with water and have the high heat setting selected, then you will get steam. It takes only about a minute to warm up. Do stand it on a towel though – as the steam commences it will push out a little water first and you probably don’t want that on your white shirt.
The water lends weight to the iron, and it smooths the toughest creases like a bought one.
The cons: The rubber stopper at the end of the iron does not like to stay in place so there can be some water leakage from there if you are a bit rough with your technique. My second minor gripe is that the sole doesn’t taper as much as a full sized iron, so it can be difficult to get between the buttons.
Sum up – if you are a business traveller in Europe (where irons seem more scarce than elswhere) then this is an indispensible item to pack. It is light and compact and does the job very well.
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Posted by Jerry on July 24th, 2006 — Posted in Journal, Travel
I arrived in Singapore okay and the hotel is very comfortable. The arrival sign in the airport was just a little disconcerting!
Singapore is hot and humid and the air is heavy with hibiscus and bougainvillea. I decided to have a wander into the city – I’m am in the Raffles district – and one of the first things was to see to some food. I quickly found starbucks and subway and New York New York and Delifrance – but do you think I could find a simple noodle house?
Finally someone said there’s a food hall/market just one stop away on the MRT – the underground train – so I thought ‘can’t be too hard’ and found the system very like the ones in Europe … except once I went down the escalator to find the platform, it seemed like I was in a long corridor, with some funny markings at intervals along a big glass wall.
Next thing a train comes along right next to the glass wall and doors open up everywhere! It seems they stop people falling onto the tracks by building a glass wall along the very edge of the platform, and carefully stop the train so its doors line up perfectly with the ones in the glass wall.
Soon I found myself on the other side of a canal and quickly found the food hall. Then the search was on for a decent local feed of noodles. Not much around if you were a vegetarian – but at least the food was cheap and filling.
I have a great view from my balcony room on the 18th floor – about halfway up the hotel – and the hotel has the highest atrium in the southern hemisphere – I’d believe it too: the interior looking up just keeps going up and up.
Anyhow it seems I am largely destined to eat mainly western food as this is a major tourist area.
And to round off the seven days – I’m up to 77968 steps for the week.
Despite not sleeping much last night I managed six hours on the plane here so I’m not as wrecked as I thought I might be.
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Posted by Jerry on June 30th, 2006 — Posted in History, Journal, Travel
The first rule of jet-lag – and how to overcome it is to drink water and get plenty of exercise and stay awake for the first day until well after dark. Okay, so that was three rules. Anyhow, after a delayed flight (are there flights not delayed out of European mainland?) I hit London walking.
Straight down the Strand – one of my favourite streets. Every time I go down the Strand I discover something new – or in this case very old. It was a chance glance down a laneway by Fleet Street that brought me to a church with a Wren-like steeple. I hadn’t previously encountered St Bride’s Church, and the name was intriguiing – especially it’s nickname: The Printer’s Cathedral. Okay, I was on Fleet Street – home to all those newspaper publishers – but I was surprised to find that the first moveable type printing press was brought here in 1500AD.
There is quite a history on this site. This is the eighth church built on this site, and it has been a Christian place of worship for 1500 years. The present church was the venue for the marriage of the parents of Virginia Dare (thanks for the comment) – the first European child born in Colonial America in 1587. The spire (above) is the tallest that Wren ever built and was the inspiration for the tiered wedding cake. This was also the church in which Samuel Pepys was baptized.
In 1940 a bomb revealed a crypt in which you can now see the pavement on which Romans walked in AD180 – and it is open to the public.
A bit further down is St Paul’s Cathedral, and one of my favourite things to do to stave off jet-lag is to climb the 530 stairs to the lantern on the dome where you get a superb view of London – and a good sense of the underlying landscape.
And inside the dome the magnificent paintings visible from the Whispering Gallery
Walking back along the Strand you can sense the history – as well as take some minor detours down some delightful laneways. Take this one, for instance, which would be entirely hidden were it not for a suitable tourist sign on the Strand, which points towards Temple church – reputedly built by the Knights Templar, but ceded to the Hospitallers. The church has gained some recent attention, having been featured in a movie about another semiotician, who uncovers a mystery. And yes, every Tuesday and Thursday at 2.30pm you can take the tour which explains the reality behind the myth underlying this church’s role in the Da Vinci Code. It is London’s only remaining Romanesque building – modelled after the the domed Church of the Rock in Jerusalem.
The stained glass windows are breathtaking, but turning towards the rear of the church, you can see several life-sized effigies laid out on the floor. Many are named, and some are in interesting cross-legged positions.
The effigies are of Templar knights from the 13 Century – this one is of Gilbert Marshall, fourth Earl of Pembroke and Templar knight who died in 1241. And don’t forget to look up at the walls – the row of grotesques is fascinating.
And, in case you were in any doubt about the Templar association, you need look no further than the pedestal outside the entrance.
But if you really want to avoid the Da Vinci Code tourists, it is only a short sprint up the Strand to Somerset House, home of the Courtauld Institute of Art gallery and the Hermitage Rooms. This gallery is one of London’s gems, housing world famous old masters, impressionist and post-impressionist paintings.
Among the exhibitions I went to were The Road to Byzantium – a collection of luxury domestic goods from the St Petersberg Hermitage Museum, at the Hermitage Rooms. The exhibition runs from 30 March to 3 September 2006 – and is well worth a visit. Among the fascinating items are some Byzantine coptic textiles from Egypt in the 4th century AD.
The Coptic craftsmen had a vast number of images on which to draw for inspiration, many of which circulated in the form of patterns, a few of which have survived on papyri. They used pictorial motifs from the Greco-Roman tradition, including pastoral scenes related to the Nile River and mythological characters such as dancers who evoke Dionysian celebrations.
This textile is a fragment of a tunic with scenes from Euripides’ play Hippolytos, and is part of a group of textiles with representations of heroes from Greek tragedies. It is made from linen with wool weaving.
This textile depicts Dionysos’ chariot and the twelve labours of Hercules from 5th Century AD Egypt. It is made from linen with wool weaving.
A contemporary quote (4-5th century AD) from Asterius, Bishop of Amaseia of Syria condemned the growing fashion for clothing woven with images: “They have invented some kind of vain and curious warp and ‘broidery which, by means of the interweaving of warp and weft, imitates the quality of painting and represents upon garments the forms of all kinds of living beings, and so they devise for themselves, their wives and children gay-colored dresses decorated with thousands of figures.” (quote from Indiana University Art Museum website)
So it’s easy to avoid the Da Vinci Code tourists and find fascinating sites that remain undiscovered by so many – they don’t know what they’re missing!
Cheers
Jerry
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