I was well prepared on the state of Lagos airport before I arrive. To me, the shock was even deeper as much as I have heard about Nigeria, I’ve never thought it will be as bad. How bad? Let me just explain.

This is how the airport looks like on the tarmac. As much as I have heard, the VIP halls are much better.

Coming out from the aircraft, one have to walk through te bridge and then throuh this under-maintained walkway to the immigration hall. There is an escalator going down, but before the escalator, there are officers checking for UN Yellow Fever Vaccine card. The non-courteous officer did a quick run through to make sure you have one and soon release u to the immigration hall.

I don’t know if it is appropriate to call it an immigration hall, it was stuffy, and doesn’t seem to be very well organized to live up to its “international” standards.

The air conditioning is not really working and I believe that an airport such as this should have a centralized air conditoning. There is one, LG air cond there but only one to support a 200+ arriving passengers per international flight? It could be better.

There are 8 working immigration counters, split of 4 each for Foreign and Nigerian passport holders. They have electronic systems in place but by the looks of it, it may be broken. it may have broken down. I guess, simplifying the flow of arrival would really help tremendously.

Oh, did I mentioned that Nigeria is facing a huge power issue? While waiting in line, the power went off for a good 10-15 seconds. I am very sure it is seriously affecting the airport operations.

Just a few days ago, I read in the papers that the Ministry of Aviation and the airport authority has been given 90 days to revamp the whole airport and to make it work to reach the like of Dubai International Airport and I seriously hope they do for the sake of reviving the tourism in Nigeria. If they do so, I believe a lot more airlines will opt to fly into Lagos.

So yes, here I am in a completely foreign land. It is my first time on African soil. This is the airport of where I am right now. This was once the pride of the country and even Africa, so to say.

It was the first ever airport in Africa more than 20 years ago. If you could have guessed or rather known or maybe not have any idea at all, yes I’m at Nigeria.

I’ve got scheduled meetings for the next 7days back to back. The biggest one being tomorrow and I got to get things done from now onwards.

So there you go, I’m now at Nigeria and I’ve even met another Nigerian on board my flight to Lagos earlier. Sony and I pretty much talked about Nigeria and the perceptions the country has received thus far, mostly negative, from international people abroad.

I’m currently staying at Check Inn Hotel in Ibadan, Oyo State. Very nice place. The bed is quite comfy too…

Till I write again… Watch this space for more.

There was this guy whom I made friend with. His name is Dave. He was having his whisky coke, thus I joined him there. Ordered myself vodka with orange, to join Dave.

We were actually in the galley while the air crews were preparing for the breakfast servings. The chief air crew, Nigel Pinto pulled out a trolley cart and made a mini bar by the back exit door.

Had a great chat about traveling as well as airline miles. Ah, finally… Someone who speaks in the same channel as I am.

Am currently in transit in Dubai. Gotta check this place out…

While you are reading this i’m at KLIA now waiting for my boarding gate to open. Where am i going? Heh. To the biggest black nation in the world.

I’ve got 14hours of flying hours to clock. It is sure going to be tiring. I wish I’m flying business clas.. ><

Maybe my next trip...

Hear from me soon... If you don't, please contact Testikel. He should know what to do.

I don know how the picture will turn out. So yeah… Ciao…

One thing about me is that, I always leave my travel posts hanging. See, the last post I did for Perth was on Perth Day 2 – Rottness Island Fun. Okay, that was like 4 months after the trip, but still the excitements from the trip is still in me. Blogging it now brings back memories. I’m sure Jun and Rue would agree with me. Right boys?

It was somewhere in September 2008 that we decided to plan for a trip and well, got Jun and myself a ticket to Perth while Rue bought it later. When I informed CK that we’ll be making the trip to Perth, his reaction was “Why do you want to go over to that dead place?” or something along that line. It made me wanting to make the trip and prove him wrong, and I did. Perth is such a nice city…

These was the itinerary for the 7 days we had in Perth.
Day 1 – Perth City on Foot
Day 2 – Rottnest Island
Day 3 – Exploring the City, Leederville and Subiaco
Day 4 – Kings Parks, Swan Bells and Cottlesloe
Day 5 – Pinnacle Tours, City Night and Moon Cafe
Day 6 – Freemantle (Full Day)
Day 7 – Chillings and Duxton Hotel

If you ask me, the best of the 7 days would be Rottnest Island. Okay… how about I talk about the highlights of each day while I was there. Sure it will definitely entice you to make a trip down to Perth.

Day 1 – Remember we had no itinerary? The first day I decided to make a round in the city, on foot and the Boys agreed. The highlight of the day would be The Perth Mint, where we get to see how they make gold bars. It is the same day that we decided what to do for the rest of the 7 days.

Day 2 – We decided to make this a full day thing and Rottnest Island is where we planned to go. No tour package blah blah blah, but we did all this trip all on our own. Took a speed boat from Freemantle and off we went to Rottnest Island where the fun of cycling around the island began. You can read more on my trip here.

Day 3 – Free and Easy Day. Nothing much that we did… wait, actually, we walked a lot. Like… A LOT! From the city we traveled to Harbourtown, then I traveled to Leederville myself where I have an office there and finaly at night we had dinner at Subiaco with The Girl who was still in Perth that time.

Day 4 –We did some touristy visits to Swan Bells, Kings Park and the best was Cottlesloe. What’s in Cottlesloe? Superb beaches is what’s there. But, before we made our journey there by bus, which we went lost for a bit because of the map. Okay, maybe it was because of me, but hey, we managed to explore some new places… So, this is what Cottlesloe looks like.

Day 5 – It is the only day we did an organized tour and we paid for Full Day Pinnacles Tours where it took us to the Caversham Wildlife Park and Pinnacles. Imagine yourself in a 4WD coach and you are actually doing this (look below). Cool right? That’s the highlight of the day, other than that… throw in some visit to see Kangaroos and Koalas and Platypus.

Day 6 – Okay. I’m stuck… what to tell you about Freemantle? Hmmm.. Oh yeah. They have a Freemantle Prison which I never had a chance to visit. It was such a dramatic day where the rail system broke down and we had to take the feeder bus down. Impressed with their quick solution to their transportation mess, but that aside, Freemantle is actually a Port. So, seafood here is nice but price is also “VERY NICE”. Good place to chill, away from the city.

Day 7 – Our last day there was pretty much a relaxing one, because it’s a Sunday. We went for some last minute shopping and of course, what’s the best was the night that we put up at Duxton Hotel, Perth. Don’t ask for the price paid but please join me to thank Jun for spending us a night there.

So yeah… That’s about it for Perth from me for now. I can tell you so much more about Perth, but it would take me another few posts and maybe a few trips to Perth again (*hints*) to explore more on Perth. Yes, you hear me right. What’s more to do in Perth? Let me tell you what I would really want to do if I’m there next.

Walpole, where there is The Valley of Giants Tree Top.
Monkey Mia, visit the Shark’s Bay for Dolphins.
Margaret River, the Wine Region.
Mandurah, just another city which I want to visit.
and many many many many…. more….

You know, there is one person I envy right now would be Dr. Ling Shih Gang. He was the winner for Experience Extraordinary Taxi Ride for the second leg. You can follow his recent adventure here at Experience Extraordinary, Western Australia. Fully sponsored trip to the South West of Western Australia. How cool can it get? Can I get one too?

Plan your trip now as AirAsia flies to Perth. Click Here for AirAsia Schedules.

I’ve pretty much covered Perth in general, what about you?

I’ve given you some travel tips above, so start planning already!…

P/S: I’m definitely gonna continue my Perth Day 3 onwards. Pls chills…

Guess where is this place…? I’m sure this picture has given you some tips already.

Those who guessed correctly, I will be giving you a return ticket on KLIA Express to LCCT. Yes, it’s LCCT not KLIA.

Thanks to Garuda Indonesia, I had a chance to visit both Jakarta and Bandung.

Also, I had a chance to travel with the fehmes bloggers in Malaysia. Oh my! How can I not be excited after the trip! Some did actually commented how lucky I was, but to me, they are just ordinary people with great individual achievements.

Here’s my travel companions and we were at Hangar 2 at Garuda Indonesia HQ in Jakarta, right below the Airbus330-200’s tail.

Top Left:
Joe from LotsOfCravings.

Top Right:
Isabelle from Garuda Indonesia Malaysia.

Bottom from Left:
That’s me, if you haven’t notice. Niki Cheong, Hanis aka “Adik Chomel” from IniBelogSaya and Nicole from Nicolekiss.

Each and everyone of them are great travel companions and gosh, these people can really shop I tell you! They are all crazy shoppers. Maybe I didn’t shop as much, that also because I did not find anything of my interest.

Speaking of which, both Niki and Joe was trying really hard to change my “mundane” dressing. They say I have such boring clothing and I should try to be more creative with the tees I wear and no black/brown or long sleeves. Then again, I would definitely start changing my wardrobe from now on.

Hmmm… Takes a huge step my friends, but I will certainly try…

More to come from this trip… Stay tuned.

The whole purpose of this Shanghai World Expo 2010 is to showcase the culture, science and technology of each participating countries, to the world. Most importantly to create business opportunities.

If any of you would remember, back in the 1960s. There are two  famous Wold’s Fair held in New York in 1939 and 1964. That were the similar event to the current Shanghai World Expo 2010. It was then US was in their great era in military, economy, technology and of course science. It is also a time where US was coming out of depression in 1939. Maybe, it could be a show of strength towards the cold war they had with Russia back then after the World War II.

Now, the sleeping giant has awaken, thus the Shanghai World Expo 2010 comes to life. True or not, don’t hold my words for it. China is set to become the next big giant in economy, science and technology also not forgetting as well, the Chinese culture. That I can say, it will happen and it’s happening already.

Watch this promotional video of Shanghai Expo 2010 by DiscoverChinaNow.

Watching the video above, gives me great feeling. A feeling I can’t describe with words. Maybe it was because of the music… Hehe.

It is somewhat like Age of Empires, where you can see how each achievement each age can bring to a certain nation. Truly amazing. It’s Age of Empires, live in Shanghai, 2010!

Okay… Maybe I should start planning to head over to Shanghai World Expo 2010.

I may sound that I’m comparing two countries on this particular event. In actual fact, World Expo happens every 5 years. The previous World Expo 2005 was held in Japan.

This video can tell you more facts on Shanghai World Expo 2010.

The World Expo is govern by the Bureau International des Expositions.

My final question before I part this post is, will Malaysia bid to host a World Expo?

A total of 189 countries is participating in the World Expo and a whopping USD$45 billion has been spent on the face-lift of Shanghai for this World Expo.

The World Expo Site in Shanghai.

On the night of 30th April 2010, Shanghai launched the Shanghai World Expo 2010 in style. Al Jazeera’s Divya Gopalan reports.

For those who can’t make it there, worry not as you can be part of the World Expo though Shanghai Expo Online. Shanghai is surely exploiting the online technology to the max.

Through Shanghai Expo Online, you can interact with every available pavilion that is available there. You can even walk around the expo, just like playing Sims. It is truly phenomenal that you HAVE TO give it a try. Wonder if they would create Sims Expo? Hmmm…

I shall be covering the Shanghai World Expo 2010 more in coming weeks. There’s so much to talk about. Stay tuned.

For more info of Shanghai World Expo 2010, visit http://en.expo2010.cn

It’s all about…

See, one picture says it all…

It’s all about Girls… A-Go-Go… Ping Pong Show… Long Time… Short Time… Girls… Ladyboys… (Oh noes!) and of course, Alcohol and girls again…

Recycle the list above 100 times… Yes…

I was a good boy there. Yes! Trust me…

I dare not touch them. They are just too dodgy.

Could be a man in disguise you know!

But then again, don’t take my words for it. Phuket has far more beauty than the general perception as per the above. I’ll write more about Phuket real soon.