Goodbye Australia!

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Hello Singapore!

Last day in Darwin started well, with a visit to Parrat market, for some great Thai sweets and deep fried goodies, We also had some jackfruit, which was gutted like an animal before our eyes! Green coconut balls were good, as were the taro custard sweets. Deep fried sweet potato not quite as good, a bit floury.

Jetstar wrecked all this by being 3 hours late, and we were also sat next to a crying baby being fed red snakes to calm her down - bad idea! Moment of panic when the camera seemed to be missing until it was located under the seat. Singapore was great, taxi straight to the hotel - easy peasy!

First day we started some serious eating with some durian rated AAAAA or possibly AAAAA AAAAA unless they put the rating twice. So sweet and rich, texture like custard, just the taste and smell of rotten onions to go with it!

Got the MTR into town and went to Chinatown, which is packed full of stalls for the Chinese new year. Went to a couple of hawker stall centres and were totally spoiled for choice. I had kaupi, which is ultra strong ultra sweet coffee with condensed milk (great)! We also had some chinese dumplings and satay with sweet tea, followed by sugar cane juice. We also managed to fit in durian pancakes (yes we came back for more) and a fresh coconut, so my teeth feel like they are falling out!

We also swung by Raffles, which was a lot nicer than I thought it would be - I was expecting just another expensive hotel, but the white colonial collonades, jungle gardens and brass chandeliers had some colonial romance about them. May have to return for a $25 Singapore sling...

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