Blogs from Singapore, Asia - page 19

After an emotionally tough start to the year, an escape from our Perth winter was the medicine needed to regroup, revitalise and refocus. (After all, winter in Perth is a ridiculously cold 15-20°C) So, where to go was the big decision – we came up with three options between us – Broome, Bali or Singapore. Webjet found us an incredibly cheap deal to the Mandarin Orchard in Singapore, so combined with our family need for sun, food and adventure it was a clear winner. As Bob becomes a fully-fledged adult in eight months time, we embarked on a five hour flight to what was potentially our last family holiday. (Who am I kidding? She’ll still be blagging free holidays when she’s thirty!) Arriving at our hotel following a death defying taxi ride, and strict instructions to ... read more

Geo: 1.35731, 103.989... read more

Here we go Again. Gaynor and I are off on a round the world jaunt (again). This is our 3rd circumnavigation, 2 in this direction heading west (2003, 2017) and 1 heading east (2015). We are as usual popping into the Mother Land to see relatives, they being Gaynor’s Cousin, her children and the last surviving sibling of Gaynor’s dad, Nellie (aged 90+). Also Betty’s side (Gaynor’s mum) which include her sister Gaynor and her children and partners. Last but not least our own Tabitha (our baby) who moved to London nearly 3 years ago and has settled in quite nicely. Living in Clapton and has taken on the task of organising our time in London for which we are very grateful as we are renowned for just sitting around and hoping everything comes to us. ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were flying from Sri Lanka to Singapore. We checked out of Pearl Grand Hotel at 9pm and made our way (via a pre-arranged transfer vehicle) to the Bandaranaike International Airport, which is also known as Colombo Airport. After an hour on the road we arrived, and the place was bustling. We navigated security, checked in, queued for ages at the immigration counter and then wandered through the duty free shopping area. We picked up a few gifts with our remaining rupees, including a moonstone and a Sri Lankan flag fridge magnet, before heading to our gate lounge. Ren caused a stir at the gate lounge security gate, as her bag had to be scanned twice and a security officer had to manually rummage through her bag, pulling everything out and checking it. ... read more

Geo: 1.28941, 103.85Today it is critical that we get up and catch our train, 6am the alarm goes off, then we even had time for breakfast, but quickly!We checked out, got a taxi to the train station, although it's only 650m down the road, getting there on time is more the reason. Our huge bags had to be tied into the boot of the taxi, just hope they get to train station with us!! We got there in good time and waited for the gate to open, then boarded the train. A trolley came along wit food and we bought 2 small tubs of icecrams, which cost 70 yuan, 30 yuan more than our whole dinner last night!!2 hours went by quite quickly. We now have to find our way to the subway. We found an ... read more