The plane was full of Red Bull....

Supporters, as expected, we were heading to Singapore, from Perth, Western Australia home of Daniel Riccardo, Red Bull F1 number 1 driver.

Mid September is Singapore F1 time, they really put on a really great party.This was the 11th running in Singapore, and third time we (my drinking buddy, nephew half my age) Andrew and me.

We booked to fly up on Singapore Airlines, once rated the best airline in the world and I am pretty sure still close to it.

Why?

Because free inflight drinks, important on a five hour flight.
Well the beer, lasted less than the first hour, bloody F 1 boozing fellow passengers drank the plane dry.

So that was me done, I don’t drink anything else Andrew moved seamlessly into the spirits without batting an eye, and when the spirits were all gone, he moved on.

Red then white wine, geez I was scared he was going to ask for medical rubbing alcohol. Or aftershave from the duty free trolley.

Landing evening time in Singapore is a good time the weather is cooler and the city is a live.

This time we booked close to the F1 track, I am still amazed how the websites can make very average rooms look so glamorous, (like the Big Mac pictures at the drive through, not like what you receive at all) still we were only sleeping there, not spending time entertaining in there.

If you have never been to Singapore, I can really recommend that you visit during the F1 weekend, as the whole inner city is a buzz, over a 100,000 invade the inner city.

Monaco Asian style, I have heard it described as.

As much as the racing is a draw card the music is fantastic.

The locals buy tickets just to see the main acts after racing for the night finishes.

We have seen over the years Robbie Williams, JLo, the Killers, Maroon 5, Simply Red, Dua Lipa, Ziggy Marley, Liam Gallagher, Bon Jovi and many more. See here.
https://www.singaporegp.sg/entertainment/past-entertainment-acts

The arena where they have it is simply amazing with huge screens, called the Padang, well grassed area, and masses of porta loos. And food and drink stalls.

Tigers everywhere (the beer type not four legged), but if you drink too many you can be four legged, trust me.

Oh yeah and hugely overpriced merchandise stores, I still struggle on how a 2 quid cap sells for 40 quid.

Guess the F1 circus does not run on sex and sunshine (despite all those movies that would tell you).

The actual motor racing action is sparse, using different categories of cars, Porsche Cup, and last year Ferrari GT which is rich boys paying to drive these powerful cars and most doing a poor job. The only reason they are on the race card is to clear the track and lay rubber for the F1 cars.

Watching the F1 cars live you really see the speed, you don’t get that watching it on TV.

And if you do go to the F1 don’t get a seat, get a walkabout pass, that way to can see the racing at all different vantage points reserved for walkabout ticket holders.

Also on the same weekend they have horse racing on Friday night, and Sunday afternoon, well worth a visit, easy to get to the trains stops right at the track.

Beers at the track were £2.00 a 330m Tiger beer, which is a third of the price it is in the inner city.

On our first visit to Singapore in 2014 I was introduced to the high prices on the very first day. Drinking and relaxing for 10 hours at the Aussie owned Boomrang bar and restaurant, on the river. We did I must admit have a pizza, the rest was beers and a few spirits (Andrew), the Bill was $890.00 singapore dollars (£400). That is drink bill shock.

For the record, Singapore is now the most expensive city in the world to live.

And you will not get any argument from me on that.

But for a 4 or 5 day stay, I can recommend this F1 weekend, this year it is 20-22nd September, 2019.

Our biggest shock was checking in to fly out back to Perth, on the do it yourself kiosk.

Never a good sign is it when you see “Please go to counter for assistance “.

Off we trot, and show the smiling sweet lady our eticket, and suddenly the smile is turned upside down into a frown.

“Please sir your plane has gone already “.

The time was 12.15pm the time on the eticket was 3.30pm departure.

The next 10 minutes there was phone calls made and more frowns.

“Sorry sir you are a no show, so the tickets are cancelled, nothing we can do.” Slightly smiling.

“We sent you an email on January 26th (nine months ago), saying that the departure time time was brought 3 hours forward. So that means you have missed the flight, tickets cancelled. You can rebook if you like next flight is tomorrow 12.15pm.” Larger smile, she said.

We talked to the airline Scoot, no sorry your $229 ticket is no longer valid.

So onto the internet (love iPads sometimes), hunting for a flight back home.

How much do you think for a last minute flight home, cheapest was with Air Asia, $890 (£450), we could have flown to London cheaper.

So shelling out the money, sure took the shine of a great 5 days, and especially knowing the guy we sat next to paid £70 for his ticket.

We did not buy any beer on the flight, the whole flight ticket fiasco had left it’s taste and beer was not the answer.

So what did I learn, two things, even though the ticket says no need to confirm flights, do it anyway.

And secondly open all emails from airlines.

So that was the email that cost me for not opening it.

I have to say Scoot is a great airline if you get there on time, if you don’t they are not great, very poor customer service.

Until next time, please open my emails.

Thanks 
Steve

If you have not got our free Royal Routine System ebook click here

Now is available for Football Correct Score and Match Odds.

Oh yes our smartest ever bot is now available for football.

Click here. (Up over £700.00 in 30 days)

Also Laypro88 is now at all time high on the UK/Ireland racing, click here

Scariest trip to the races.

Having been to race meetings in USA, England, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, never could have prepared me for my hour at the races in India. Namely the “Delhi Race Club".

Late afternoon my business partner Michael and I were driving back from a late business lunch, when I spied the sign “Delhi Race Club”, then as luck would have it the car park was full. 

So two and two made, they must be racing?

Michael did a u turn in the always busy Delhi highway, tooting and finger pointing but not in rage, more what hell are you doing?

After parking the car we made our way to the racetrack entrance, where we were told there were two races left, so we where charged full fare, can’t remember how much now, but certainly not a kings ransom. Plus a race book, and then the start of big differences raised it’s head.

First scariest thing.

We were asked to hand over our mobile phones, no phones on course.

Behind the guy was a huge collection of used mobile phones, Cash converters would have loved.

Faced with missing the next race if we trekked back to the car to leave them there, we surrendered our phones. And like everything in India we got a wafer thin receipt. (Legacy of British rule, they love paper work).

Then the second scariest thing raised its head or should I say 100s of heads, they were the worlds scariest collection of dogs you are every likely to clap eyes on. Imagine the wolf in Red riding hood and you get the picture. Never been so glad to have been wearing jeans (even though it was 35c plus, still cool compared to the 45c two days later.) April in Delhi is hot.

Keeping one eye on the dogs circling, and the other on the rough ground below, we continued to the bookie ring.

Third scariest thing, the bookies ring, it was a dark shed like area with around 50 bookies, and whiteboard odds board. And only 4 of the 12 horse field with odds next to their names, you couldn’t bet on the other 8 runners.

To be totally honest I can not remember if there was a tote, (way to busy watching the dogs and the fourth scariest thing became very apparent. The fellow punters.

They were so shifty looking, that they would have made superb extras in a pirate movie. Although they were friendly enough to answer the few questions we needed answers for.

Question number one was, where is the racetrack and where are the horses?

Never had to ask those two questions before at the races.

The horse had gone down to the start which is amongst the houses, a mile away.

The track is a "J" shape, and you see the race for only 200 metres, to the finish.

There was no TV to see what was happening in the race for all we know they could have started just around the corner, and what was happening in the run god knows.

And the horses then have to pull up in a very small space (nearly need a parachute to stop in time). To avoid hitting the wall at the end of the track, abs breaking on the horses would have been handy.

Luckily my horse didn’t win so I was not faced with taking money of the bookie, that would have been another scary moment.

Michael looked at me, and we both agreed we had seen enough of racing at the "Delhi Race Club”.

We collected our phones on the way out, first thing we checked was if we had any credit left on our phones, I certainly was expecting to see calls to those premium phone services, but the fifth scariest thing did not happen.

All that was left to do was drive back to the hotel, and down a few Kingfishers and plan the next days IPL venture to see the Delhi daredevil s and Chennai’s Super Kings, both featuring great Aussie players.

Yes Australia still has a few great players..

Next time I will write on what a contrast, the IPL cricket was to the races.

Until next time. Have great experiences.

If you have a great or not so great race experience, please let me know.

In the meantime check out the Royal Routine System tools.

Click Here

Our great Football, Horses, Cricket, and Dog betfair bot Click Here

 

On our way to the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, to watch Delhi Daredevils, and the Mike Hussey lead Chennai Super Kings, I decide to take my eyes of the road and place a bet on previous champions the Daredevils.

Working on the law of averages, last year virtually undefeated, this year 11 straight losses or close to it, should turn the tide, hey they have David Warner, bound to hit form.

First off, all the usual bookie and betting sites are blocked in India, so I start fumbling for my Hide My Ass VPN software, and finally get on to Betfair, and find the great odds of 2.50 Delhi at home to Win, i'll have some of that, plonk $40 on the win, log off and I am set.

Always makes me wonder why some countries bother marking lanes on the roads, and India is certainly Top 3 in this category.

Three lanes marked, and it is not uncommon to have five or six rows of cars at the stop sign or traffic lights, and chuck in any amount of motorbikes across the road also.

I guess if you stuck to the lanes you would never get anywhere, probably end up five or six kilometres further back from where you started. You would never get the chance to leave 3 or 4 car spaces from the car in front of you.

And even more surprising is that accidents are far and few between, and no road rage, it just seems to work.

Certainly, makes texting and driving impossible which I guess is a great thing.

Finding a park near the stadium was a bit of a task, however we wedged the car into a space, nearly had to climb out the window to exit the car, only hope the other cars we not leaving early.

Walking to and into the stadium was a sense of anticipation and excitement, certainly from my perspective being the only non-Indian (off the field anyway).

We were greeted with what I though was low level fog, but soon informed it was mosquito repellent fogger, being blown around the ground with what appeared to be giant hand-held leaf blowers. It did the trick as I never saw a mossie all match.

The stadium holds forty thousand plus people and it was full, however it was fuller in patches around the ground, as in every hundred or some metres around the boundary.

We are talking pack solid, all with plenty of police, if it was in Australia or England you would have thought they were the pub outlets. But no, no alcohol was available in the grounds.

They were imported dancing girls in lots of three scattered around the ground, inside the fences. I feel safe in saying that I think most of the men in these tight crowds watching the lily-white girls dancing saw very little of the cricket going on.

This season these girls will get between US$300 to US$150 for the lowest paid teams per game, plus some get bonus for photo shoots.

Big difference to what the players are getting, and the girls seem to work harder and perform the whole 3 hours not resting for half the match.

 

And the police, were not watching the crowd or cricket either.

The atmosphere was magic, and the air was charged, and it I mention fogger filled.

When we arrived, the match was underway with Delhi fielding, and right in front of us was David Warner. 

As the Super Kings started to pile on the runs and wickets were hard to take, I kept telling my Indian friends “wait until Warner bats”.

Chennai built a good score, and Delhi had blown in the odds. If I could I would have had more Delhi, but I did not want to flag an inplay bet (rubbish Australian inplay betting on the internet ban, you can pick up the phone and bet inplay on sports but not on the net. Nanny laws.)

Still my mantra “David Warner, wait until he bats”.

Half time some great mini pizzas and slightly cold Pepsi, more man made fog, and on with the show.

Yippee, David Warner is first up, and first out, 1 run. Goodbye forty dollars, and loss twelve certainly on the cards.

The girls were still pulling a great crowd, there attraction lasted the full match.

There were 7 channels that showed the IPL matches in different languages, and as soon as the match finished there were replays, after replays. Three hour matches lasted twenty four or more hours on the TV channels.

You could never say “I missed the match”, to say that would be admitting you had been arrested. No they probably had the same seven channels in there also.

If you can’t talk cricket in India, you better just shut up.

Around midnight as the Daredevils failed to collect a win and remained cemented to the bottom of the table, we started on the way back to the car.

Past the bicycle taxi riders, sleeping in the passenger seat, into the heaving traffic snarl, fumes, noise and no spaces.

India has many things you don’t see anywhere else, the thing that amazed me most, was not the Taj Mahal, or any of the things you associate in the travel brochures.

It was you always see people any hour and where, you never feel alone.

If you ever go to India, make sure the IPL is on, and go to a match, you will love it.

2019 IPL starts 24th March, wrapping up with the finals on 12th May, 2019

If you can not make it this year, why not bet on it, see our T20 cricket trading manual Click Here

Have you grabbed a copy of our free staking plans?

Download our Retirement staking ebook click here

And the Royal Routine ebook click here

Thanks, and until next be good as you can.

Steve

 

 

Thanks again.

Steve Davidson

Back Home Click Here