Singapore - Asia lite. Thailand - Asia plus!

Hello everybody!

So, flight to Singapore was awesome. Although I was carrying 41kg (including my bike), I managed to only have to pay for 6kg for extra bags and managed to score the emergency aisle seats. Hells yes! (as my sister constantly says). So Massimo, the Singa air manager, you are a legend!

All I wanted to say about it was this – my father went on for about 5 minutes about Singapore Airline’s peanuts – that they were amazingly fresh and crunchy. Dad – the peanuts were good, but not enough  to mention in this blog.

Got to Singa. Singapore is Asia lite. You almost feel guilty, in that Asia is meant to be a challenge, where crucial things are lost in translation, where you are bamboozled by crazy traffic and persistent touts. Singapore is just like Sydney CBD. It's so easy, everyone follows the rules, the traffic is predictable. But in Singapore if you ever want a service that is slightly different to that described (for example, we wanted to purchase one avocado, and not the four pack), it blows their mind! They cannot deal with unconformity and the whole shop goes to a hushed silence as they have to deal with the troublesome expats. 

Now the fun bit – Chiang Mai in Thailand was Asia plus, just how I remembered it and how I like it. Tuk tuks everywhere, dank guesthouses but the friendliest people you’ve ever met. The highlight was definitely the elephant trainer course. These beasts are absolutely beautiful, but massive! We learnt a few commands for the elephants and the different ways to mount the elephant. We then walked them into the bush for their feeding. The really fun part was when they had to take a bath. Unfortunately, we were still on top of them! A picture tells a thousand words, so just check out some of the shots below.

 (note he is passing up my drink bottle, as I dropped it!)

After Chiang Mai, I visited my sister at Universal Studios theme park. This place is amazing- due to all the concrete it manages to be about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of Singapore, so it’s an absolute swelterbox. The whole point of the theme park was that it was a condition of the company opening a casino on the island. Because I was with my sister, who is mates with all the other characters, I got some great shots – check them out below (she is Marylin Monroe).

It was awesome to spend time with my sister and see her crazy life in Singapore. I really don’t know how she does it, but the place must grow on you.

Next post – Oxford!

Toby 

Five days to go...

Hello friends and family,

First things first - I'm going to put it out there - I'm not a very funny guy. So, if you are expecting this blog to be a laugh-a-minute, you may be disappointed. But I will try to make reading this as little excruciating as possible.

Secondly, this is my first blog. So, I might just make a few blog faux pas. But be gentle and patient with me, as I'm sure (hope) this will get interesting.

Thirdly, I am a lawyer. I believe there are two types of lawyers. One's who have had their personalities removed (and make great lawyers) and one's who have not (who are writers, actors, philosophers, poets etc in denial). I fall into the former category (although I cannot say that I am a great lawyer). So, if I lapse into legalese, become verbose, or use, too, many, commas then have pity on me, for I do not know better.

So, in five days I'm leaving the country to begin my adventure at the University of Oxford in the UK. But first, I am going to spend a week with this chick:

Seeing as Marilyn is long dead, that's my sis doing a pretty good job of 'being' Marilyn at Universal Studios, Singapore as a character actor. I think as she  has been in the job she is channelling Marilyn more and more (just kidding sis). So, we will 'do' Singa for a day or so and then head over to Chiang Mai, Thailand. 

Why Chiang Mai, you may ask? Because it does not have full moon parties and it (hopefully) is not full of Aussie bogans, the combination of which looks like this:

But, more positively, in Chaing Mai we can become FREAKING ELEPHANT TRAINERS! So, as awesome as that sounds my mate helpfully pointed out that we are essentially paying to pick up elephant dung. But meh to that, I think it will be a barrel of fun. 

After that, off to the UK. So, what am I doing over in the UK, you may ask? Why am I missing summer? And why am I asking all these questions? Good question.

(me in the UK)

About this time a year ago I was grilled for about an hour in front of about 8 senior members of my Rotary District in interview for the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. That night, I received an awesome phone call, which said that I had been selected!!! The scholarship funds me for a one-year post-graduate degree abroad as well as embeds me in a local Rotary community abroad. Again, fortunately, I was granted my first preference at the University of Oxford. This was such an honour for me, and one that I did not, do not, and will not take lightly. 

So fast forward a few months and I was selected by Oxford to attend their one-year postgraduate course, the Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL). Essentially, it is Oxford's version of a Master in Laws where I will take 4 courses over the year in various subjects. At this point, I definitely want to study comparative human rights, jurisprudence and comparative public law (the fourth is still TBD). To those who don't know, I'm a slightly obsessed cyclist, so I intend on joining the Oxford University Cycling Club. I am also really passionate about access to justice and public interest law, so I intend on applying to Oxford Pro Bono Publico, Oxford's public interest legal group. As a former rower, I may (or may not) dabble in a bit of rowing. 

People always ask, "Are you excited about going?" Until recently, my stock standard reply was "I will be excited when I am on the plane." But just recently, after a really nice farewell dinner with a few of my colleagues, I feel ready to go and am getting super excited. I think your subconscious has an uncanny ability to prepare you emotionally at just the right time. It's the same as when you are about to come home after a long trip, it doesn't matter how long you are going for, you will feel ready to go a few days before you leave. So, I'm really looking forward to a few things:

• Seeing my sis;
• Re-engaging my brain on an academic level and conceptually locking horns with other postgraduates; and
• Throwing myself into everything Oxford has to offer extra-curricularly.

Anyways, I've probably broken a blog rule by making this too long. So, I'll sign off for now. Stay tuned for my next instalment.

Toby