Day 45: Killing time

Mood: Warm (again not a mood but it was how I felt all day)
Music: None

Today we woke up with a start as the alarm clock I'd set took no prisoners (yes Rhi, I set an alarm clock and it went off...). After packing our stuff up and having breakfast, we left out luggage at the hotel and went to the train station to book tickets for tonight's journey into Malaysia.

After a bit of faffing (the train ticket was more than we'd expected and they only took cash or Amex) we headed back into town to try out the one suit that had been made. It fits well but not as nicely as those tailored suits I already own. They'll post the finished articles back to the uk in a few weeks so they'll be ready for my return.

From there we booked ourselves on a duck tour of the city and made our way over to the large shopping mall from which it departs. The duck ride was quite fun and took us past the pit stop for the F1 circuit. I now want to look up where the track is so I know which parts of it I've walked around!

From there we walked back past our hotel and up the side of the quay. All of the restaurants there had large tanks of fresh crabs, lobsters and fish sat outside. Further up we stopped off for ice creams, I went for the black sesame seed flavour and Emily had green tea and red bean. Neither were as nice as the last two random flavours we'd gone with. The path then led us up to the fort canning park which provided us with a nice stroll.

On the way back we stopped off at a river side restaurant for dinner and a couple of pints of Hoegaarden. Suddenly all seemed right with the world!

This evening we've come back to the train station for our sleeper train to Kuala Lumpur. As we bounce and bump our way out of Singapore I'll leave you for now.

Day 44: The Sling

Mood: Relaxed
Music: Bon Iver (yet again)

Today didn't involve much activity at all. After breakfast we went back to the room and spent most of the rest of the day trying to figure out how the next couple of weeks were going to pan out. We've booked the hotels for the next few nights and have identified a couple of sleeper trains that we'll need to catch.

This afternoon we went down to the lobby and sat down for Afternoon tea. The meal consisted of a tray of fresh cakes and sandwiches that could be refilled as we liked and a pot of one of the book of teas that was on selection. I quite clearly went for the English breakfast tea. The sandwiches were nice and the cakes great but in my book the fresh scones really took the cream (bad pun intended).

After that we went for a dip in the infinity pool as the sun went down.We then made ourselves presentable and headed over to Raffles for a Singapore Sling in the Long Bar with one of Emily's friends who had literally just arrived for a few weeks work out here. The three of us sank a couple of Slings each and then retreated to our bar in the Fullerton for a final beer before John left us for bed.

Tomorrow we've got the first suit fitting and then in the evening we'll be taking the night train to Kuala Lumpur. I'm not sure about internet connectivity for the next few days but I'll see how it goes.

Talk soon!

Day 43: Suits you!

Mood: Snaked
Music: Beber & Tamra - Suite Beat Boy

Today started at a nice time. I think we were a little too late down to breakfast as some of the things on offer didn't taste quite as fresh as I would have liked. I guess that's what you get for not getting down to breakfast until just before 10am. The plan for the day was to go shopping and then go to the Night Safari. We set off on a gentle stroll into town, wondering past numerous camera shops. I ventured into one of these, just to find out the prices of things and then got hijacked by the shop owner and got the hard sell on some filters and other things. I wasn't quite expecting this and got a little rinsed but only for things that I really ought to have had in my camera bag anyway.

One of the main things I wanted to buy was a couple of new tailored suits, made for me in one of the cheap shops that stretch along the main shopping road. Rolf is pictured today sat amongst the material that is to be used to make each one. It was a little bit more expensive than I had anticipated but the pound has dropped 20% against the Singapore dollar in recent years and I picked rather nice material for the suits too. I managed to get the guy to make them and post them directly back to the UK for me. I have a try on session first thing in the morning that we are due to leave Singapore so I hope that everything is ok with them. My experience with tailor made suits is that they do get pretty close the first time. We shall see on Wednesday.

After a brief break for food we headed out of the city towards the Night Safari. We arrived a little early but this just gave us time to sit back and relax with a beer and a book before the fun started. At 7pm one of the two shows at the park started up right beside where we were sat. Fire breathers and dancers. After this we headed for the path leading up to the other side of the park. This was mostly to avoid the crowded parts as everyone was piling towards the trams and the other shows.

After a few minutes we discovered just how tricky it is to photograph wild animals under very low light conditions. Some of the otters stood still enough for use but the likes of the greater and lesser mousedeer it was just too hard. We walked up towards the top station of the tram and on our way passed a number of very cute animals, and many ugly or scary things. When you can't quite see how thick the protection is, walking over a pond of alligators in the dark is a little disconcerting. One of the cutest things we saw was a flying squirrel, he didn't move much and it would have been nice to see him glide but you can't have everything.

After that we got a guided tram back to the start of the park and went to see the nocturnal animals show. We were planning to go back out to the far end of the park after this and walk back but we were pressed for time due to the bus scheduling.

During the show they pulled out a large reticulated python and asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to hold it. Obviously I put my hand up and was chosen. It was a little heavier than I expected and gave me a little bit of a squeeze. It also seemed to like my leg and wrapped it's head around me and licked me a little. I couldn't see this at the time as my view was obscured by the body of the snake as I tried not to let it slip of my shoulders.

After this they had a small reminder about recycling, followed with a demonstration given by 3 otters, each trained to put the correct type of rubbish into the bins. This was very cute as the otter with the aluminium cans couldn't quite reach and as such juggled the can on the rim of the bin for a minute or so before he was given a helping hand by the trainer.

After that it was back to the hotel. We felt a little hungry at the end of the day and were realy quite disappointed with the Seaweed flavoured Pringles I'd bought earlier in the day (you have to try something like that don't you!).

Day 42: Orchids!

Mood: Sleepy
Music: Trip Doubt 'mix tape'

Today started fairly early but my body clock was telling my that I'd slept in loads by 10am and I think I persuaded myself to believe it. After quite a while, Emily awoke and we headed down to breakfast in the hotel. The hotel had several different manned stands, including a sushi bar, a curry bar and an area dedicated to the cooked breakfast.

After brunch we made the trip in to the central shopping area in order to walk to the botanical gardens. This large public area has a fantastic amount of biodiversity and the national orchid gardens. There are several species of orchid on show that have been created specifically for the visits of foreign heads of state and the like and they are very weird and wonderful for flowers.

We spent almost 4 hours walking through the gardens and it was early evening by the time we got back. We did take an ice cream break half way around where I picked up some sweet corn ice cream... Very very odd, but nice. As it had been about 30 degrees C and very very humid all day we both needed to change before going to one of the restaurants on the hotel.

As most of the set Chinese menus left very little option but seafood we each took a wild stab at the a la carte menu and did fairly well with respect to volumes of food and food selection. I'd love to know if there is a sneaky way of getting crayfish out of their shell using without resorting to using fingers or knife and fork while eating with chopsticks!

Enough for now. My body clock is slightly out of kilter. I think I have got Aussie time nailed bang on but I'm now 3 hours behind that!

Day 41: Jumbo!

Mood: Hungover
Music: Deadmou5 - Strobe

Today started fairly late with several sore heads around Gary's house. After breakfast, cooked on the BBQ of course, and a long period of sitting on the veranda, we had a last couple of games of Wii bowling before heading back to the airport. The drive was an hour and a half or so but passed fairly quickly.

Once at the airport I sat and waited for another couple of hours, catching up on episodes of House and Bones that I've yet to see. I had found out the previous day when trying to book my seat, that I was flying on a 747-400 series plane. This might not mean much to most people but I've been wanting to fly on a jumbo jet since I was a child and have been quite disappointed to get smaller Airbus planes for the two long legs to date.

On the plane I watched a couple of films to pass the time, including The King's Speech. Having been told so much about it I was almost unsure whether I wanted to watch it at all. I'm glad I have done so though.

The check-in and baggage retrieval at Singapore airport was very simple and Emily was waiting for me at my arrival gate when I got in. We hopped on a train to the city and arrived a the hotel (very very plush). I'm sure I'll take photos at some point!

Day 40: Fiiish!

Mood: Merry
Music: Royksopp - Junior

Today didn't start early (hurrah!). I managed a little bit of a sleep in before my 11am check out. Leaving my main bag in the hotel I set out for the aquarium, stopping off at the Dim Sum kitchen next door for breakfast. I've no idea what some of the things I was eating were but they were quite tasty!

The aquarium is one of the biggest of the world (according to the little pocket guide book Liz lent me). Quite a few sharks and loads of other local varieties of fish.

The dugongs were quite cute and the biggest shark they had was a grey nurse shark. These only ever eat fish but have been killed over the years as potential man eaters.

After lunch I went to the arranged place to be met by Rod and taken out to Wiseman's Ferry where Gary and his family live. Gary and Rod were the two Aussie guys I had met in Peru. His house is on an elevated position looking out over the Hawkesbury, with a veranda running along the side. We saw kookaburras come down and land on the hand rail right in front of us!

Dinner was cooked on a BBQ with several accompanying beers. The beer drinking continued on late into the night, only to be broken by a small amount of Wii bowling.

Day 39: Sydney photo day

Mood: Physically tired
Music: Lots (Kings of Convenience - Riot on an empty street)

Today started early... (how many of these posts have started with those words?) After watching the sun go down while in a surfing lesson on Bondi beach last night, I got up to go have a surfing lesson while the sun came up. I got a nice early morning photo at about 6:20am from the beach.

The lesson itself was pretty good again. I was on a massive plank of a board but that did mean that I could stand up pretty easily and managed to ride a couple of waves from just after they'd broken all the way into the beach. I finished the session very tired after not sleeping too well and then trudging out through the waves and the swell for almost two hours.

After that I went back to the backpacker place for a warm shower and to change. Once I had cleaned up I went back to the beach with my camera to take photos of the decent surfers and also of, Lauren, a girl from Birmingham I'd met on my lesson the previous morning.

At the end of her lesson I hopped on a bus to go back to the city and find a hotel for the night. After lunch we met up and went on the ferry over to Manly to have a look at the beach and sit down to have something to eat. The ferry on the way back gives some pretty impressive views of the harbour bridge but for us this was most obscured by a cruise lined turning around in the way. Lauren and I said goodbye when the ferry landed as she was meeting her sister for dinner. I spent the rest of the evening taking photos of the bridge and of the opera house before and after sunset.

On return to the hotel I pretty much fell straight asleep.

That would be the end of that day then!