Singapore

Sorry for the gap, but we haven't found an internet connection until now. First we were rushing through airports then when I finally sat down the bloody laptop battery was flat! We're in a cheap cafe in Singapore now, having had lunch with Dad and M.

We left Dunedin and everyone had managed to hold off the tears although C was clearly close, and succumbed later. Through some misunderstanding we only got to see Mum and the others long enough to say good-bye, as we had been called to the departure lounge half an hour earlier and could delay no longer. After all the panic about how much we could fiit in our bags, there was no problem being over weight and in fact the cabin luggage wasn't even weighed. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing this time as well.

The flight wasn't great. J was OK, but trying to fit a 187cm frame into an economy seat in the middle of three was not fun and I couldn't stretch and couldn't see the LCD properly either. We tried to book better seats for the second leg but they were all gone already, but maybe the 747 has more room than a 767 - we'll see.

We were still out having a cup of tea at 1am NZ time (10.00 pm Singapore), and people were shopping all around - more of that later... I certainly slept well.

The Allson Hotel is OK, but quite handily placed in Victoria St just two blocks from Raffles' Hotel. We met Dad & M there and also cousin Mark's wife Jenny. We blokes weren't allowed into the hotel proper because of our shorts so we had drinks in the long bar instead. There were bowls full of unshelled peanuts and the tradition is to drop the shells on the floor where they accumulate all day. We couldn't bring ourselves to do this so the piles just got bigger on the table. M had a Singapore Sling at a mere $23 +taxes. The rest of us had more straightforward drinks but still at some expense. Still, now we can say we have had drinks at Raffles'.

We had Chinese for lunch and wondered why they build MacDonalds there. Dad and M had an appointment with an optician so we have taken the Hop-on Hop-off bus to Little India.

Click here for more pictures of Singapore.