Advertisement
Published: January 29th 2008
It's over a month since we were last in south-east Asia, but we've been keeping very busy in New Zealand since. I'll endeavour to get the next blog out on a slightly more timely basis . . .
Early December saw us spend a few nights in Singapore, where my brother Ben lives with his wife (Heloise) and daughter (Lyra). My best friend from school (Sunil) also lives there, and my mum and dad came over to visit, so it was a bit of a family reunion - and in addition, a chance to wear some half-decent clothing, as my mum and dad brought us both some fresh clothes from home - a rare treat!
We didn't try to do much in terms of the sights in Singapore, although did venture to one of the city's islands (Pulau Ubin) which was covered in tropical rainforest. We were also taken to Singapore zoo as a Christmas present from Ben and Heloise, which was superb - the zoo has a deserved worldwide reputation, with many of the animals housed in large open 'cages' - so open that some of the apes, monkeys and birds are known to escape from time-to-time (the
Raffles,
. . the obligatory Singapore sling and a strawberry daiquiri!more dangerous animals are thankfully kept in more robust surroundings).
Aside from the sights, we took the opportunity in Singapore to don our 'new' clothes and head out. We had two fantastic meals, enjoying Singapore Slings at Raffles Hotel, followed by a buffet curry in the Tiffin Room. We also ventured to The Line at the Shangri-La, where we enjoyed an amazing buffet dinner based loosely on seafood, but also Malay, Indian, Italian, Japanese and numerous other foods. With beer and wine included, we arrived early and were amongst the very last to leave.
After Singapore, we flew to Hong Kong for two days. I've been to Hong Kong previously, but it's a different city as a budget traveller. The budget accommodation in the Kowloon district is decidely seedy, and many of the fantastic restaurants in the city are a little too pricey.
We spent much of our time strolling through the streets (via a series of overhead pedestrian walkways), visiting Statue Square, Kowloon Park and the waterfront areas. We also sailed a number of times on the renowned Star Ferry, and took the Peak tram to enjoy views of Hong Kong by day and by night.
Our final evening, we watched the light show over the city sky-line, ate at a TGI Friday's, and finished the night watching Man Utd beat Liverpool 1v0 in the Premiership.
We left Hong Kong on 17 December and flew to Auckland . . . so in the next blog, there will be a bit more to tell. In the meantime, I'll leave you with our final photos from SE Asia, with the caveat that they include a few of my nearest and dearest - you have been warned!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.047s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0249s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
