Homeward Bound

Sunday 21 September

As the four of us came to in the hotel room, I finished my scotch and got ready to attack the last few hours in London - a few people had told me this town is all about Sunday - and it was good to have some nice times with Max, Tommy and his friend to round off the week.

We strolled down the sunny side of the street to a gastro pub and sat in a small garden out the back, savouring some salmon and champagne and celebrating the previous night's win and not getting stabbed or robbed.

By 3pm I had said my goodbyes and was in a car heading to Heathrow - I tuned into Galaxy 99.5FM and had a peaceful hour listening to roots reggae as the driver winded his way through the sunny Sunday streets towards the airport. With no check-in baggage I made my way wearily through customs and security, enjoyed my final Tiger in the SQ lounge, then boarded the plane for an extremely painful flight home, all the way back to my wailing baby and frazzled wife. Getting this trip behind me was indeed a milestone and though Kai learned how to really holler this week, just being home and physically there to help out now, is a big bonus for all concerned. London, over and out.

Tiger Translate London

Saturday 20 September

I was kind to myself and everyone today, so there were no official duties until 3pm. I slept till around twelve, then headed out to get some lunch at a local pub with Max. Again, I was amazed by London's approach - the first pub had no cook on duty, the second one had no electricity, the third one had beer but no food. Pretty fed up by then I said to Max, "F*ck it, let's get a pint" and proceeded to do so and order a bloody Domino's pizza into the pub. The developing world seems more civilised in comparison.

Spent the afternoon getting ready at the event venue with all the artists, managed to grab a decent diner meal (cheeseburger, fries and coke) with Max, Mee Wong and Badral Bold which was a sweet little respite (though as Max said, in this environment where trashiness would be appropriate, the joint's design was a little too English, subtle and tasteful to classify as a real American diner).

At 8pm the doors opened and the show peaked around 11pm with the live art battle, though the UK beatboxer and The Nextmen were my highlights - the latter played everything including the kitchen sink, and by 1am when Tommy Gerard rocked up, he was introducing me to the true meaning of dubstep. Had a good yum seng with Max and his mate from Otago, drank a few quality beverages, boogied, socialised and generally had a good time.

After the venue was cleared out at 2am, I gathered the final party crew and took the van to Dalston Jazz Club, a tiny little place that was packed liked sardines but still functioning. Again I failed to see the civilisation in this setup and so ordered a round of Beerlao, before popping onto the street for some fresh air with Tommy. When the time came to go back in and get Max, the bouncer enforced the by-now-infurating licensing laws, so I took Tommy's advice and had to use Jedi mind power to entice Max out of the bar. We tried one more bar up the road and suffered the same old gag, after which I had seriously had enough and we made a beeline back to the hotel to drink some single malt.

As Mr Hook said recently, the US and Europe may have only recently been considered the first world, but Asia is rapidly knocking them off their pedestal and it's very interesting to experience the difference first-hand. Back in the comfort of our room, we listened to iTunes, sipped on Macallan and ice and shot the shit till dawn. Primo.

T-Minus One

Friday 19 September

"Getting there!" was a key thought in my mind by this stage, with Kai and Jamie back home taking up a lot of mental real estate, and the culmination of a year's work happening in the here and now taking up the rest.

Headed down to Shoreditch once again, where all the collaborations were coming together nicely, especially the London cab under the clear blue, late summer sky. Took a walk with Pure Evil to a junk shop and fell in love with an integrated mobile DJ unit from the 70s, with two belt drive turntables, a mixer and microphone all built in. They were only asking 200 squid and I was very tempted to buy it, but the thought of transport and storage won over the kitsch value in the end. Had a quick but quality coffee with Wan Yee and Wayne on Brick Lane then took my leave.

Picked up the media from the hotel, now adding a minivan to my arsenal, and had a nice casual lunch at Canteloupe. Phin Wong from Today ordered a bottle of sparkling wine and I was happy to help him with it, supplementing my lunchtime Tiger and aubergine. After that it was time for the media briefing, which this time was done by yours truly, with one Max Bania joining just in time to catch a piece of the action. Dispensed with all my duties and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the next battle, bringing Max with me, fresh off the back of travelling around Eastern Europe and ecstatic about seeing his first real bed in weeks!

Took a smaller group of about 12 media to dinner at the Great Eastern Dining Room which was a fantastic taste sensation - hadn't had 'fusion' Asian food in a while but this worked pretty well. Across the road we had a round of Tigers at Canteloupe, not trashy at all with a nice buzz going, before jumping in Tiger tuk tuks to Juno, round the corner, where a Secret Wars live art battle was going on.

It was here that I started to relax a little and caught up with Katie and Max as part of the crowd spilling out over the pavement and eventually onto the road! Made radio contact with Ben Frost and once everyone was nicely lubricated, invited all the party people to jump into the van and head to Koko, where the boss had offered us a private section with a cooler full of beer!

Picked up Ben and his girl Maddi en route and kicked it VIP-style into the giant, pumping venue. Rocked it properly up there (feeling a little like Statler & Waldorf looking down at all the stupid indie kids below). Our guests had a great time and as they slowly filtered off, the hardcore remained as Max and I entertained Jesper and Katie by singing along to "Call Me Al" on the dance floor.

Taking Jesper's suggestion and hungry for more late night Friday action, we headed towards the centre of town to Tiger Tiger but that's where it all started going pear-shaped - finding a drink late at night in London was like drawing blood from a stone. The closest we got was a place that would charge us 5 quid cover and only serve soft drinks, so after wandering around the rabble-filled streets of Leicester square for quite a while, we gave up and had a sing-along taxi ride first to drop Katie home and then to bed around 5am.

Redheads not Warheads

Thursday 18 September

Started at 9am in the lobby again, with our last addition, Alex from Hicalorie, joining us and headed down to the studio. Got everyone doing their thing, checked out some artwork on the roof with Pure Evil, before heading back to the hotel to get a little work done and meet a business partner over lunch. Headed up to Camden after that to visit Koko, an iconic music venue with some potential for more work next year. Got shown around the beautiful converted theatre, met one of the directors and bounced some ideas around.

Starting to feel like things were getting a little hectic, I found a nice sunny pub and sat down with a Guinness to get my thoughts, papers and media presentation in order. Well worth it. Headed back to the studio to check on the progress of the artwork and take the team back to the hotel so they could have a little down time.

By 7:30pm the Thai band had arrived along with the Singapore media, so we had a formidable group of about of 25 people for me to host for dinner and drinks! Luckily I had a thick wad of pounds in my pocket and a clear plan, so after sunset we set off on foot from the hotel towards Thai Sqaure Angel in Islington. Hit a slight hitch when the back half of the ambling group followed an errant guest into the tube station, within which there was no hint of mobile phone reception, so I had to troubleshoot and get some help to rescue them from the warren-like underground.

Dinner went well at a big long table and I chatted with the Danish guys (I think a shared disdain for Ikea was the foundation for our bond) and our 'celebrity bloggers' (www.dawnyang.com and www.kennysia.com). Eight hundred quid later we rolled up the road to a nice bar called Living Room where most of our group headed home and were replaced by a couple of Malaysian English blokes with strong affinity to Tiger Beer! With a writer from Vice magazine Denmark, we caught a cab down to Shoreditch and had a pint at a nice and trashy bar called Old Blue Last. Shit stereo quality, bright lights and a friendly vibe, apparently this is the place where all the 'it' bands choose to play to launch their new albums to the London hipsters. To me it was just trashy and bright, but at least they had beer.

Down the street we went into a darker bar called Tea and had what would turn out to be our final drink, and here I was struck by normal-looking people, drinking normal drinks and dancing to normal-sounding dance music. Perhaps my expectations for something mind-blowing were a little too high. The rest of the night was spent wandering the streets with our Danish and English friends, finding one closed bar after another. Yay England.

For The Love Of My Child(ren)

Wednesday 17 September

With my body still on Singapore time, I decided to get up early to clear some emails and mentally prepare for the battle ahead. Well worth it. Meeting all the artists in the lobby at 9am, we took the tube from Angel to Old Street and winded our way down the brown and grey inner city streets, first to the car park at Hearn Street and then to the collaboration studio - Cordy House.

Met Eine and Pure Evil, the UK headline artists and a lovely couple of geezers. After breaking the ice, a spot of lunch, shopping for art materials and checking out the museum-like streets of Shoreditch (courtesy of Banksy, Eine and the like) everyone got cracking on their artwork. I had a small bit of down-time on the sofa and chatted with Odgerel from Mongolia about next year's plans, before heading over to see where Singapore, China and UK were getting started on customising an old London cab!

Knocked off at a civilised hour and then headed up to Camden Town with Ben Qwek for a tasty Indian dinner followed by drinks at the Jazz Cafe to see none other than Finley Quaye! The warm-up band confirmed the quality of the music scene here, and Finley was in a state of total wastedness but executed his lyrics perfectly; "I sacrifice my life for the love of my children" & "I need you to stop! Find out what's wrong! Get it right!" Awesome. Enjoyed a couple of Budvars and a Red Stripe while swaying to the reggae and soul sounds, highlighted by the saxophonist - wow. Made it home safely and was in bed around midnight.

Filthy MacNasty's

Tuesday 16 September

Jumped on a plane at 9am and spent the best part of 13 hours reading, working, watching Flight of the Conchords, listening to music and drinking Tiger in preparation for this year's Tiger Translate global showcase in London!

Arrived in Heathrow and swiftly escaped on the express train to Paddington (smooth) - transferred to the tube (not so smooth), got out at King's Cross and took a long walk with baggage in hand to the Jury's Inn Islington on Pentonville Road. Blue Monopoly! The business hotel was totally sweet and after settling into my room and making contact with a few team-mates and meeting the artists from Singapore, India, Denmark and Mongolia, headed down the road to Filthy MacNasty's - a lovely local pub for a delicious pie with mash and peas and a couple of pints of lager. Had an early night, woke up the next day even earlier.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsor

10 September 2008

Thanks to the little birthday present that keeps on giving, my 32nd birthday was a picture of absolute domestic bliss; sleeping in, breakfast in bed, playing with Kai, a trip down to the ICA to apply for the baby bonus, discovering the local NTUC. Yes, it's true, I have become a Singaporean.

Matt and Wendy get hitched!