I'm going to Singapore via Hong Kong next week, which is too uncomfortably similar to Beijing and Kuala Lumpur for my taste, I must admit.
Victim phones are apparently ringing. Could mean nothing at all but I know google can step in to provide some GPS data from users who decided to allow location history on their phones. Last pinpoint stored could answer a lot of questions.
Makes me feel like they are all still alive... If the plane went down there would have been an explosion and no phones let alone anything else would still be working.
Don't feel too bad Jeff, I'm going to Manilla and probably Borneo in May so obviously I'm very anxious to find out what the hell happened. If it was mechanical it's business as usual but if it's terrorism I might need to change some details of my trip. The Manilla is work related but I decided I'm over there so might as well take advantage of the oppurtunity to do something like Bali, Thailand, Vietnam but decided on Borneo as the flights are cheap and I can also take the bus to Brunei just for the passport stamp.
Work - I was invited to give a talk at a workshop at the National University of Singapore. Have you ever been? For that matter, has anyone else ever been? I'll have a weekend free, and I know I'll be going to Sentosa Island for one of those days, but I wouldn't mind finding out what is worth doing on the other day.
I'm counting on Singapore being far more strict in every way than Malaysia, despite being right next door. Of course, that doesn't help me for the Hong Kong portion of the trip.
Singapore , small, humid, clean ,safe, take taxis, cheap and clean. Been there plenty of times What airline? singapore or Cathay as you going via HK? Where are you staying? Do you want to shop? Main street orchard road with expensive shops . Plenty of US clothing and food chains Alternative malls Vivo City near Sentosa or Great World city 5 min taxi ride from orchard road. Experience -Mustafas( fixed price) , Little india ( not on Sunday thou), Electronics-sim lim center to bargaining the price, remember different voltage 240 in singapore. They also add 7% gst to final price. Eating? What do you like? Italian, Lebanese, Seafood, local hawker? Can recommend We stay on sentosa , great spot from the hotels of orchard rd and scotts road. http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/attractions/beaches/songs-of-the-sea/ universal studios there, new massive aquaruim, cable car to mainland other day duck tours and singapore flyer 2 hours am http://www.ducktours.com.sg/duckflyer.php got to top of marina bay sands for a view 2 hours include lunch pm http://www.marinabaysands.com/index.html then gardens by bay next to marina bay sands http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/home.html 2 hours pm or you had enough then go to Raffles hotel for a singapore sling hotel for swim and recharge then dinner and shop which close 10 pm http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/home.html or shop in the morning back to hotel and then zoo and night safari in pm http://www.zoo.com.sg/ any questions?
I think the poster FTC actually lives in Singapore, I had considered heading over there to hang out with him on one f my trips to Taiwan but could never swing it.
Very nice - thanks. I'll be on Cathay Pacific. Unfortunately since this is all on NUS's dime I don't get to stay in a nice hotel downtown - I'm at the Visitor's Lodge on campus (it all being on NUS's dime is not the unfortunate part, obviously!). It looks quite nice, but nowhere near as convenient as being close to the action. I will be down in the city for sure on Saturday and Sunday. The stuff in the neighborhood of the Marina Bay sounds very good. I like all different kinds of food, but since Asian food is my favorite I was hoping for some "real" Chinese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, etc. I'm not really interested in shopping other than small keepsake-type things. Are there any particularly cultural things, jewelry for the missus back home, etc.? Is the aquarium to go to the S.E.A. Aquarium (near Resorts), or the Underwater World? Is Universal Studios worth it without kids?
Its a bummer the pool is at the other location . Aquarium is at resort world your are 10 mins from sentosa . Universal is a mini version of LA, not worth going as an adult Let me get back on the food and shopping question, need to research at home 9am now
@BobWoodruff: Breaking News: US investigators convinced of manual intervention to #Flight370-The disappearance is not due to accident or explosion @ABC @BobWoodruff: Not- a catastrophic malfunction, failure or explosion. US team finds: #Flight370 was systematically shut down by someone @ABC I believe this is a new development although it seems this line of thinking has been more heavily discuss the past 24 hours
My brother in law is a commercial pilot here in oz suggested this a few days ago that the sudden dissapernce made no sense based on systems on plane, multi back ups etc
That's interesting. Getting a pilot's take is interesting because they know so much more than reporters or outlets just trying to learn about airplanes in depth on the fly. I have no knowledge about airplanes and regulations, but from what I'm reading there should have been some type of emergency beacon if they hit the water that would go off. On top of that, I think the plane had a system that was pinging something remotely located after the disappearance. The ping was just basically a check that if the plane did crash, the emergency location and backups would go off. Something like that is what I've picked up from reading a ton about this and neither of those seem to have went off.
There is a lot not adding up here, for example the people here in the states was searching the area near the Andaman Strait days before word came out that Malaysian military had thought it went off course. At this point I'm not quite sure what to think other than an intentioal act by someone or some people. The real question is did the plane crash into the ocean or is it on the ground in some secret location?
