TnT's Workout Blog

We used to go to the Indy GP while living in the USA. In the US GP, for one tenth of the money we had much better seats, from where we could actually see something (the pit lane, and turn 1, turn 2, turn 3, ... turn N), we were not covered by debris from tires and the track every time the cars went by, and the drinks and food were served to the stands, so that the spectators did not have to climb over each other to get out of their seats to get more drinks.

It also seemed that most of the spectators here in Singapore were not interested in following the race but taking pictures of it. Overall it seemed more like an "I've been there" event to show off to friends, which does not generate much atmosphere. The most amazing new thing for us on the race night was the performance by an Australian performing arts company Strange Fruit from Melbourne.

The rest of the day we spend on a wine tasting tour in Swan Valley. We also visit a microbrewery for one beer sample and a chocolate factory. Again we are reminded why we don't usually take this kind of tourist tours: not everyone is at their pick-up place when expected so everyone else has to wait, and thereafter it is rushing from place to place. However, we are not disappointed to today's tour despite its slow start.

It is hard to tell this part of Australia apart from the USA: fast-food places are the same, strip malls and small businesses look the same, as do motels and car dealers.

Upon returning to the city, we have dinner at Bistro no. 44 on Kings Street. We have pea and leek risotto and ricotta-vegetable calzone, and down them with some local wines. Then we return to the hotel to pack, and we are ready for our return flight that leaves at 1:05am, and reaches Singapore at 6am.

An extended holiday weekend getaway down under. We spend three days in the windy and drizzly city of Perth in Western Australia. We fly out right after the office hours on Friday, and reach our hotel Riverview on Mount Str. in Perth at 1am. We have the room key awaiting us in the mail box. How convenient! And the room is not bad either: it is neat and spacious, and comes with a full kitchen with fridge, microwave, gas stove and all, even wine glasses are provided.

Saturday morning starts sunny and bright, but soon it gets cloudy. The restaurant Bouchard next to the hotel serves excellant breakfast. We have a Spanish omelette, granola with berry compote and yogurt, and orange juice (with ice!) and an espresso. Then we head out to the city. It is not warm at all for a Spring day but rather chilly, so as the first thing we visit a Swedish cafe for a regular coffee and tea.

The next few hours we cruise Hay and Murray Street shopping areas and Northbridge, and then end up following the nice bike and pedestrian paths along the river side to Kings Park and Botanic Gardens. It is quite a hike up to the park. By the way, Perth is not particularly beautiful city, but we adore the bicycle lane system: it is extensive, well marked, and not compromised by erratic pedestrians. There are a lot of bicyclists all over Perth, and everyone is wearing a helmet. Is it a law? There are not too many parks in the city, but the banks of Swan River are undeveloped, which leaves abundant open space next to high rises.

On Sunday morning we head out for a run, not too early though. Afterwards we have pancakes with banana and berries, and tomato-avocado sandwich with coffee and orange juice for breakfast at Bouchard. Then we take a train to Fremantle, together with hundreds of loud football fans that fill the train up to its capacity for a couple of stops. In Fremantle we visit three micorbreweries: MadMonk, Sail and Anchor, and Little Creatures. We have a tapas lunch at MadMonk. We also do some shopping at very nice kitchen stores. We take an early evening train back to Perth, and meet the same, now even louder, crowds returning from the game. We have a dinner at another brewery in Perth, The Old Brewery, neither their brews, food or service impress us.

We stayed the Saturday night at the Changi Village Hotel, which was very nice. We also found some great bars and restaurants in the neighborhood. One of them carried Flying Dog's Classic Pale Ale. However, we ended up dining at the La Cantina in Venezia, one of the restaurants in our hotel. We didn't enjoy much of the view, since it was pitch black outside: even the planes approaching Changi Airport had their lights turned off.