Today was a truly weird day ... I know its the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz BUT did we have to have Dorothy-like-Kansas-storms?

75 mph winds, driving rain ... all day ... the roads have been flooded (again) and trees have been swaying (& breaking) like drunk cameramen.

Loads of office work was achieved today and trying to sort out my car insurance! Not fun ...

I also have been watching a bonkers Japanese movie ... The Death Book ... with part II tomorrow and I can't wait!

Song of the Day: The Rain Song - Led Zeppelin
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmc-eg78gTs

Weather: Crazy



not bad for 70 ...!

I am NOT superstitious ... but it's Friday 13th today and it's not been a particularly great one!

I have not suffered one minute of jet-lag which is awesome BUT ... I went for a drive to post letters and drove through a small puddle which turned into a HUGE puddle and flooded the engine of my car!

1 hour later a kind local garage pulled me out of the water - which was upto the top of my wheel-arches. 1 hour later I was driven home by the rescue service which then 1 hour later picked up the car and sent it to the dealer. I have a rental (nice) for a few days.

It's blowing 45 mph outside and lashing with rain!

Why could I not be back in Hong Kong, in my suite at The Upper House supping beer (free from the mini-bar), watching a movie and vegetating??

Eek and ugh.

Song of the Day: Never Tear Us Apart - INXS
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbOnYAG2HPI

Weather: Friday 13th meets Predator and Halloween

Back in London! Phew!

Departed The Upper House at 0530 ... after a rather entertaining evening that turned into a rather entertaining morning.

What a fabulous hotel experience I had! Totally love that place ... I was a bit miserable that I didn't get to see another sunrise from my suite - booo. have the feeling that I will be back there though. Yay!

Anyway - broke all records and the usual arduous 13-hour flight home actually turned into just a two hour trip as I slept for ELEVEN hours straight! Not even baby-screams and a funny smell (airline food! ha) could rumble me!

Song of the Day: Norah Jones - Pirates
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CoYGexR5Rk&feature=related

Weather: Lovely (HK) to miserable (UK)

clouds over london

flight to LA teasing me!

home at last ... almost

This year I have stayed in quite a few lovely hotels ... but of all the new openings, The Upper House here in Hong Kong and The Elysian in Chicago are firmly up at the top.

The Upper House has a sister hotel in Beijing - The Opposite House. TUH is owned by the Swire Group which in turn owns Pacific Place which is a HUGE piece of land on which there is already a Conrad (hmm) & a JW Marriott (umm). TUH is "on top" of the JW - starting at floor 6 (where there is a Garden). Up to the top floor (49th) - there are 11 floors that house 117 rooms & suites.

The 49th floor has reception/library and Cafe Gray (from Gray Kunz - the NY chef) - which offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had a superb meal here tonight - Willem van Emden is an outstanding "director of restaurants" ... and the sommelier Kimberley Drake is one of the best I have ever had the pleasure meet and talk wine with.

The hotel has been designed by Andre Fu - who is the hottest hotel designer in Asia at the moment.

TUH is run by the excellent General Manager Dean Winter - ex-Mandarin Oriental. I have had a couple fascinating chats with him. This hotel is a winner - now in the top three of properties in Hong Kong (with The Four Seasons and Peninsula) ... and a lot of the success is down to him.

The hotel has 21 suites ... mine is HUGE ... and has brilliant views of the harbour and the hills ... I have nothing to complain about! The attention to detail is impressive. REN products in the bathroom, a lovely amenity bag filled with goodies AND very stealable all-lead pencils!

I have had a lovely day catching up ... drinking wine ... meeting up with old friends and drinking more wine.

In 4 hours I fly back to London ...

Song of the Day - The Labour of Love - Hue & Cry
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gxMvb9VrzY

Weather: delightful

the view at 0500

view at 0545

view at 0630

49th floor view from men's room!

whoo-hoo!

view internally from the 49th

arty

ground floor to 6th

my bedroom

my lounge

my bathroom part 1

my bathroom part 2

my walk-in-shower
with priscilla & willem

A perfect day in Hong Kong.

Awake at 5 am to watch the sunrise from the 43rd floor of The Upper House. Play about until breakfast - which was quite tasty.

Reply to all the emails ... and then hit the road. Spend a good hour wandering about like a real tourist! The sights are fabulous ... skycrapers everywhere ... what a sight!

Head over to the FS where after sitting in the sun, I have a massage ... where Rosa pummels me into shape! Fantastic!

Dinner at Cafe Gray - back at The Upper House. Very nice food ...

Not enough time in the day! Sadly!

Song of the Day: Cream - Prince
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRjXZyGefWA&feature=fvw

Weather - GLORIOUS



breakfast + dinner
the hotel - from the outside

upper house - part of pacific place

bank of china

who you gonna call?

Greetings from Hong Kong!

I am staying at a new hotel - The Upper House - but more about that tomorrow when I am awake & have photos and have looked around properly.

OK - so - Air New Zealand - as ever - perfect - wonderful service, staff and delivery. Had a bed - slept well and even managed to watch episodes of The Simpsons that haven't aired in the UK yet! Ah - if only every airline could be ANZ ...

Anyway, so was picked up in this Lexus hybrid 4x4 - from the airport ... which had built in wi-fi! So I was texting/emailing/skyping like crazy as soon as I landed!

In hotel and met General Manager - Dean Winter. More on him tomorrow too ..

My very dear friend Nicola from The Four Seasons picked me up for dinner at Caprice - my favourite restaurant in the city. Lobster ravioli and Trevallon 2001 ... yum yum!

OK - so now sleep! EXHAUSTED!

Song of the Day: Barbara Ann - The Beach Boys
www.youtube.com/watch?v=654H4xfDYKM

Weather: Warm

in the back of one of these Lexus hybrid thingies
kate with the technology
dinner with nicola at caprice
dinner - soup - mint, escargot, green stuff and trevallon 2001 ... yum!

At Heathrow in the lounge waiting to be called for the 12 hour flight to Hong Kong.

It's cold, dark and miserable here ... am hoping for bright, sunny and warm in HK! Yay!

Was "profiled" once again at security ... ! Do I have a guilty look about me? Anyway - I am here now and I am looking forward to the next few days.

Song of the Day: Lost In Music - Stereo Mc's
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNiFoSG51q8

Weather: Yuk

marie - one of the ANZ lounge angels
that's me - squeezed between the dull brussels and lovely j'burg!

Today is all about Gemima.

Last Sunday the worry was that she wouldn't last the day ... but here we are 1 week later and she is celebrating her 10th birthday! Yes - she is totally blind, has wonky rear paws, has atrocious table manners and sometimes produces odours that set off fire-alarms BUT she is - for me - the most wonderful creature that God has ever created ...

Here's to her next birthday!

Song of the Day: Happy Birthday - Stevie Wonder
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FchMuPQOBwA

Weather: Doggytastic

sleepy moo alert moo

I have lost count of how many beds I have actually slept in this year. If I am lucky, I will get to sleep in the same one for three nights … but it’s mostly just an overnight experience. I have all kinds of sleep issues – mostly positional: pillows, me (I prefer diagonal as it means I get to use the whole bed) … and duvet. But I do have kind of a routine now - which works everywhere except on planes.

This morning, I fell out of bed at around three o’clock. I had got it all wrong … I forgot to put the lavender oil on the pillow, I slept with the duvet wrapped right around me (rather than on me)and I slept to the one side of the bed that the television was facing. This created a "perfect storm" which disorientated me .. and led to disaster ... I was not a happy fellow.

Anyway, I did manage to get back to sleep and woke up quite fresh. After a quick coffee with Philippe, I headed to Soho where Richard was editing the Chicago show.

I left after a couple of hours to film a promotional interview for Travel Channel. Our new series starts airing on December 8th (Western Cape of South Africa) and a lovely lady called Laura from TC asked me a heap of questions about my travelling life and the forthcoming shows. It has been noticed that I have a penchant for pink linen shirts, that Gemima the Pooch aka Moo features in many of the shows and that this season I have gone adrenaline-sport crazy. I think I am having a mid-life crisis! It’s rather strange being asked questions … rather than asking them … on camera. I did not feel comfortable ...

The Chicago show is looking quite colourful and fast-paced even though there are no major sporty features. The Charlie Trotter cooking segment is superb … although I spend rather a lot of it drinking the vintage rose Dom Perignon … and actually not helping Charlie at all!

The live band karaoke is sadly (for me) still in final edit ... cats wailing or even the Cheeky Girls would be a vast improvement on my effort. I may have to give away free earplugs to every viewer next year ...

Tomorrow is a wonderful and joyous day! Gemima celebrates her 10th birthday! For those who have met her, you will know what a special pooch she is ... for those who don’t, well you will have to take my word for it!

Have a great weekend!

Song of the Day: Little Wonder – David Bowie
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnTrbvg4wNg

Weather: Threatening

early morning flowers at liberty ....

on the terrace at the peninsula ... with kim in the background

tide's next door neighbour!!

laura at travel channel ...

my friend lea's products ...

mandy pants before she hears me singing on "live band" karaoke ...

chef charlie trotter ... "the one that got away was this big" ...

PEACE MAN!

Greetings from Claridge's ... in a lovely suite (one of the best in London) on the first floor overlooking Brook Street.

It's been a busy, busy and interesting day ...

I am certainly not a party person anymore. I used to be there at the opening of an envelope - but now I just do my job and let everyone else party. Tonight was an exception - "Luxury Briefing" is the best trends magazine in the UK and it held its annual shindig at The Connaught just up the road from here. I was there with Philippe (GM of Claridge's) and Pepita ... but I met up with some dear old friends who I haven't seen for ages. It was actually quite nice. The highlight of the evening was Anya Hindmarch picking up an award for services to luxury. I also bumped into Sir Terence Conran - who is recovering from a recent illness.

On the other side of town was a Visit London awards ceremony where The Milestone and The Athenaeum were in the running for best hotel in London. Neither won .. but The A came third. I can't even bring myself to say which hotel won and which came second BUT I was totally amazed by the results. I am no hotel expert BUT even I know that service in a hotel is king and the service offered by The Athenaeum and The Milestone is among the best in this City and streets ahead of the competition ... Awards eh? Pah!

Tomorrow is Chicago editing ... can't wait!

Song of the Day: Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SP60n9v2YM

Weather: Strange ...

the connaught - moon & river

oxford street - the xmas lights

champagne on ice ... in my suite ... still there ...

nice LARGE suite bedroom

lovely bathroom ...

lounge ... with comfy sofas ...

It was a GLORIOUS day here ... sun shining, blue sky, chilled breeze ...

I am travelling for the next few days so I have everything in order. The weather in Hong Kong looks glorious so I am very much looking forward to sitting in the sun. Saying that it's scorching in Oman so December will be hot!hot!hot! too ...

I have been reserching India for a friend today - would so love to film there - but permits take ages to process - maybe next year.

Back to Chicago scripts ...

Song of the Day: Everybody's Got To Learn Sometimes - The Korgis
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5wkLnpJkL8

Weather: Calm
bert & ernie - poor bert got his head stuck in a fence today ... baaaaaa

It's MOST odd - today feels strangely like yesterday .. SO ..

Today was not about coming first ... it was about finishing. Much was achieved. The next few weeks are going to be busy, busy so I am pleased to have a couple of days to prepare.

Hong Kong, Oman, Thailand (elephant safari), New York (plus possible trips to Chicago & LA)... and that's by mid-January. Plus we have bit & bobs to film and package up before we start filming again in March. It's all go and it's all good ....

Song of the Day: The Spell - Alphabeat
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwH0BxtbeEA

Weather: Dull, dreary, draining ...


gentle looking creatures ...

Today was not about coming first ... it was about finishing. Much was achieved. The next few weeks are going to be busy, busy so I am pleased to have a couple of days to prepare.

Hong Kong, Oman, Thailand (elephant safari), New York (plus possible trips to Chicago & LA)... and that's by mid-January. Plus we have bit & bobs to film and package up before we start filming again in March. It's all go and it's all good ....

Song of the Day: The Spell - Alphabeat
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwH0BxtbeEA

Weather: Dull, dreary, draining ...


gentle looking creatures ...

It's November! Where has the year gone? No, really .... where has it gone?

It's so dark outside - it's cold and windy - and I can remember - as if it was yesterday - sitting outside with a cigar and glass of wine watching the sunset at nearly 8 pm ... now it's 5.30 pm and getting earlier ...

Anyway - I feel as if I have a Hallowe'en hangover despite the fact that I didn't drink much last night. The front of the house was littered with broomsticks this morning, all with "Made in Chicago" on them ... chuckle!

Editing this week and Hong Kong next week ... then, guess what? It's nearly December ...!

Song of the Day: Let Your Love Flow - The Bellamy Brothers
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKSNHcsqqKM

Weather: Stormy

i wish ...