Singapore

Greetings from Singapore!

I believe in past times we may have rashly made comments about wanting to be hot again...having arrived to 31 degree heat and 85% humidity I'd like to take a moment to remind people to be careful what they wish for!

More about that later. Sharm last blogged as we were about to head to Sydney and do so we did...flying into the middle of World Youth Day which, for the uninitiated, is a global gathering of Catholic teenagers with a guest appearance by Old Red Socks himself (although I'm not sure if the red socks thing was a specific Pope or is a general Pope prerequisit...answers on a postcard please!). The streets of Sydney were heaving with matching hat wearing pilgrims and the locals didn't seem too impressed - quite the spectacle to behold!

Anyhoo, whilst in Sydney we managed to catch up with Jen (Lilley) and Suze (Dansey) who send big hellos back to all who know them. It was quite surreal going out for a few beverages with people you associate with being out for beverages in Reading...disorientating but fun! We also went fishing in Manly very unsuccessfully, did some general loafing about and had a lovely relaxing time.

Come departure time we had our first travel hiccough - a delightful 16 hour delay on our flight that we only found out about when we got to the airport Got put up in a local hotel, and fed dinner and brekkie before being put on a massive plane with only 26 people in economy which was cool....until they couldn't get the in-flight entertainment working for the first 7 hours of the 8 hours flight. Ah well!

So we're now in Singapore - humid, busy, shopping obsessed Singapore! Great place, lovely people but not as cheap as we hope the rest of Asia is! There are a few random sights to behold - we saw a dog wearing a nappy earlier today which I'm not too sure how to deal with - genius or a bit odd?! Went for the obligatory Singapore Sling in Raffles which is the only place in Singapore where there isn't a $200 fine attached to littering and you are encouraged to throw your peanut shells on the floor for some reason...random! Nice cocktail, although had a distinct mass-produced feeling to it as it appeared about 30 seconds after we ordered it but it was fun to experience how the other half live for an hour or so

We also visited Sentosa, a little island off the south of Singapore which is where someone has decided that the people of Singapore need somewhere to sunbathe and play beach volleyball so have created a huge man made beach. Palm trees, coconuts, clean sand...and a slightly dubious view into the South China sea which is full of oil tankers and off shore oil storgage platforms and the like - it's all a little surreal!

All in all though, it's a very civilised place (yet another tube network that makes London's look a tad antiquated - paperless ticketing, aircon throughout, clean enough that you could eat your dinner off the floor if it wasn't illegal to eat on it) and it'll be interesting to see what the rest of Asia is like which we shall start oing in a few hours when we get on a train to Kuala Lumpur.

Unlike NZ t'interweb here is either free or cheap, and there are internet cafes everywhere so we should be better with our blogging again...be prepared to be bored

Hope all is well in whatever part of the world you're reading this from!

Sue xxx