As soon as I arrived in Utrecht, Diederik took me to a lunch at a very nice restaurant, inside an industrial complex: Zuiver. Both him and the waiter suggested the smoked eel salad, and I must agree, it was delicious.
Then, after a couple of very interesting meetings, he took me to dinner to another very nice restaurant, this time in the colorful and very touristy Red Light District: ANNA, where we had pre-appetizer, appetizer, main course, pre-dessert, and dessert.
On Monday September 15 I flew from New York to Milan, and went straight to a business meeting. From there I took the train to Rome. Although I was quite tired upon arrival, I had to stay awake until it was “local time to go to bed” to avoid jet-lag, so I took a stroll through the Piazza della Repubblica, where I had a Panini di melanzana e mozzarella, and Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore, where I had a Gelato di canoli (yes, canoli flavor, not a canoli).
So much traveling, flying, walking, sitting and time zone changes make your body ache, so some exercise is absolutely necessary. In my case, I try to book hotels with swimming pool, so I can swim. In the case of Singapore, given the year round mild climate, I felt like swimming in the outdoors swimming pool to start my third day.
I spent most of the day working, meeting with potential customers.
In the morning I had a business meeting with Dr. Ho at Suntec City, (home of the world largest HD screen), where I also attended the Medical Asia trade show. It wasn’t easy to get there, because the Formula 1 preparations had many streets closed to pedestrians, so I had to navigate my way around a maze of hotels and shopping malls. In one of them, the Marina Square, I saw a Mr.
NOTE: For some reason WordPress does not show all the pictures from that day (September 7), but you can access MORE PHOTOS here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jcortell/sets/72157647043529148/
I try not to have preconceived notions about a destination. But one can’t help to associate Singapore with high rises, luxury, order and cleanliness brought about by strict laws. As I was about to find out, there is plenty of all that, and reasons for it, but Singapore is also much more than that.
My last day in Tokyo started with a n00b mistake: my phones, computer, calendar, and travel apps have different times (I have to keep tabs of New York, Valencia, and local time when I travel), that’s why I wear an awesome Casio solar atomic watch that has world time. But somehow I did not take into account the “international day line”, so I kept checking the time right… but not the date!
NOTE: For some reason WordPress does not show all the pictures from that day (September 6), but you can access more photos from that day here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jcortell/sets/72157647279455961/
I really meant to make it to Tsukiji fish market early. Not that I am that interested in the fish auction, but I want to see all the fish before it is cut and packaged or sold. That means getting there before 8am. So I set the alarm at 5am.
