India bound (not)

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Cyclone Vardah made landfall in Chennai mid-day Monday and closed the airport. Luckily for us our flight hadn't taken off so after an hour or two of waiting Singapore Air cancelled our flight and put us up for the night.

The early evening drive in to town from Changi took us down the familiar but changed East Coast Parkway. I could almost taste the Soft Shelled Crabs as we headed past the East Coast Village hawker centre. I was glad to see it. I have told many people if they have a few hour stopover in Singapore then go here to fill the time. I am not sure if anyone listened but at least I now know those that did would'nt have been disapointed. The second half of the drive was past sights new and some as yet unidentifiable. There is a large Ferris wheel close to the water and the imposing Marina Bay Sands. All new additions to this vibrant city. We may have time tommorrow to start rediscovering it, we haven't been here for a few years but have transited it many times on earlier trips. We have a few days here on our way home and this unexpected stopover has wet my appetite.

However some of the realities of travel also came back. The taxi drive in wasn't anything like we are anticipating in India, just a few quick lane changes and sudden accelerations but I did notice the guy was tired. I hate to think how many hours on a shift these guys do. I kept an eye on the drooping eye lids, which happened when the traffic was running smoothly, and on a couple of occasions made some loud conversation which snapped him out of the slumber. Shelley has a bit of a head cold at the moment so her large sneezes also helped. I have found these hard working people survive on the adrenaline of heavy traffic and over the years I have read that a lot of accidents happen during the night when things are quiet and they are tired.

Due to cancelled flights we have cancelled our first two (and only) hotel bookings which gave Shelley and I a small giggle. This trip now feels like most of the previous ones, no real plans and playing it day to day. It feels perfect. I wonder where we are sleeping tomorrow night?

Stay tuned we may be able to update this and let you know.

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Photos

Inflight Movies
The new Jason Bourne was good

Changi Airport
We still thought we were going to Chennai when this was taken

Shelley in the queue
Her quick thinking and better listening skills than mine got us in the first few people who got allocated a hotel room at the airport.