Sick Singapore Simon

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Woke up on Christmas eve, ready to leave Thailand and Simon was ill, the worst kind of ill too...a dodgy stomach. We got a taxi to Phuket airport and I spent the journey panicking that Si was going to vom everywhere. Pretty tense half an hour and you'll be pleased to know he didn't vom...phew.

He occupied the toilet for a while at the airport...whilst I enjoyed a pack of ferrero rocher, an ideal Christmas eve treat. Luckily (for me), for the first time since we'd been away we weren't seated together on the plane, so I got to keep my distance for a while longer.

Simon collapsed on our bed in the hostel as soon as we arrived and I, feeling the Christmas spirit, went for a short stroll. Was slightly concerned when I walked for 20 minutes and saw nothing but asians and indian restaurants (not to be taken as racist, more a fact). I went back to the hostel a little sooner than planned and asked Simon if he was sure we were in Singapore........you'll be relieved to hear we were, it was just that we were staying in Little India. What a relief.

Singapore was quite a cool place to be for Christmas, very festive and over the top decorations and stuff. We did manage to go for a stroll in the evening, with a few touch and go moments, but Si made it through.
He went to sleep pretty early, so being the Christmas fan that I am, I went downstairs to the communal area and went on the computer and had a beer. Didn't last long, as I got bored to death by some loser kid who decided to tell me it was sad to drink on your own, that sort of thing. He hated fun and Christmas.

On Christmas day Si was much better...woo hoo and he even produced a card, some tinsel and crackers as a little surprise 😊 The hostel was pretty festive too, with festive music playing and even a little stocking filled with lollies for everyone. Simon and I, being the nutters that we are, went out wearing hats from our crackers and tinsel...it went down a treat.

We went for a Christmas lunch in a really nice hotel, which was really fun. We were a little disappointed at the sight of no potatoes though - don't get me wrong, it was good gammon, turkey, brussels, carrots and gravy, but no potatoes??? Anyway, I got a little carried away and decided to tell one of the waiters a small white lie, that I'd called up that morning to check they definitely had potatoes and was told there would be some. It worked, because he got some made for us specially. They were more like new potatoes, not a patch on Moira's Christmas roasties, but they tried.

The rest of Christmas day involved booze, mainly. Went to an awesome hotel, which had a bar on the 70th floor. Really great views. Simon helped his stomach get better by drinking half yards of beer and I had a few cocktails 😊

We did use Singapore's rail network to get to these bars, so got a really good feel for the city, of course.

Our post-Christmas dinner evening snack consisted of pot noodles and sushi, different and certainly not as good as the feast we're used to, but it did the trick for one year only.

Boxing day was a more chilled out affair and Si had perhaps over-done on Christmas day, considering how ill he'd been...oops. So we settled for the cinema, then for the best bit, went to Raffles for a Singapore Sling - AMAZING!

So, all in all it was a flying visit, but a fun one! Very humid and wet (so it did feel slightly like Christmas at home), with a shopping centre every 2 feet, so perfect if you're not backpacking!

Oh, we also came 3rd in a Christmas photo competition in our hostel (one of the only 3 entries...sure), they guys there got excited because we were wearing hats and tinsel, so took a photo of us in front of the tree. Managed to get ourselves a couple of their branded t-shirts...free clothes always handy when you're a backpacker. Winner.

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