Last day of the holiday....and back to the cold, wet and miserable UK

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No photos today!

I had hoped to visit the Singapore Cricket Club, not because I'm keen on cricket but because it is a famous and historical place and I noticed that there was a Rotary club who meet there. This would get me into the building but unfortunately they met on a Tuesday lunchtime and so was not possible. Instead I decided to attend the Queenstown RC who met in the Tanglin Club not far from Orchard Scott, where we had stayed in 2008.

Not knowing the dress protocol I put on a shirt and tie and a light jacket. We finished packing our bags and left them in Wangz reception and caught a cab to Paragon on Orchard Road. We visit Paragon retail centre and noticed that in many of the stores prices are not shown. My obvious conclusion was that old quite 'If you need to ask the price, you cannot afford the item'.

Our attention was taken by one shop, a Japanese shop selling all nature of beautiful, simple items for the home. I guess that we spent over 45 minutes enthusing over the simplicity and quality of the merchandise. Unfortunately our bags had been packed and there was no room to add anything extra but we really loved the natural products.

After browsing in several for some time, it was time to head off to my meeting at the Tanglin. Finding a taxi seemed impossible so I started walking. NOT a good idea with heat, sweat and being overdressed. Eventually I found a taxi which had me to Tanglin in just a few minutes.

On arrival, I was welcomed by the members and we had an excellent buffet meal. Looking around the members, I could see that Rotary was struggling in Singapore and could see how little of what happened would be of the remotest interest to young, prospective members.

I met up with Hazel back in Paragon and we took a taxi down to Boat Quay. The rain had started so we stopped at a Chinese restaurant under an awning and watched the boats and the ducks float past. Drinking Chinese tea in an hurried and leisurely ceremony, one that we extended until the rain abated. We the started walking the few blocks to Chinatown but in the end got hopelessly lost and found the Clarke Quay MTR station where the train took us right into the centre of Chinatown. As soon as we arrived, the heavens opened again and we were forced into ducking from one arcade to another. One shop had astutely put a basket of cheap umbrellas in their doorway and we bought one to keep dry. Although we were retracing our steps from our first day in Singapore, Chinatown looked very different by daylight. Soon it was time to head for home and we took the MTR for a final time.

Arriving at Outram Park, the 400m walk to Wangz was in very heavy rain and two people do not easily fit under a cheap Chinese umbrella. I was still soaking as we left for the airport in a taxi. The rain had certainly not diminished our enjoyment of this incredible city and we left the city hoping that we would return again some day soon.

Air travel can be a stressful experience or can be relaxed. The choice is very much that of the traveller. For relaxed travel, the two key elements are plenty of time and good advance planning. Our return to the UK was smooth but boring. The Dubai to London flight was almost empty and we were able to move to seats right at the front of a compartment with lots of leg and arm space. The landing of the A380 in London was one of the hardest I've ever experienced. Even the cabin staff seemed a bit surprised by the thump.

The only glitch in our travel arrangements came at Heathrow security where we found ourselves behind a rather scruffy individual. The security staff persecuted the guy by a full body search, picking through every item in his cabin baggage and asking lots of questions. Hazel had been directly behind him and was kept waiting for nearly 20 minutes. We both felt very sorry for the guy. An other lady in the queue missed her flight as a result of the delay but security staff simply told her she should have arrived earlier. She had arrived at the airport 2 hours earlier.

Ironically, there were two supervisors running a time-and-motion survey of the passenger security processing with a stopwatch and notes. They seemed oblivious to the fact that some customers were being excessively delayed or harassed but one passing passenger gave them a piece of his mind - they totally blanked him out. I intimidated them by standing very close to them not saying anything and making them feel uncomfortable - a little bit of their own medicine which they did not like. It seems odd that in order to protect our national liberties from the threat of terrorism, the government machinery delays, harasses and persecutes innocent ordinary citizens going about their legitimate and peaceful business. And so we lose our freedom as a result of government action!

Chris N met at as Aberdeen airport and we very grateful. Stepping out of the aircraft, the temperature was a chilly 20c lower than the places we had come from. It felt arctic.

And so our BIG trip was over. We had travelled over 28,000km, visited two major cities, toured Western Australia, spent a week living in the outback, spent time with family and met many really nice people. What a trip. We can't wait for an chance to return to Australia.

Finally a word of thanks to the many people who helped to make the trip possible. Family, friends and neighbours. And thanks to all who have followed the blog, which is now closing.

What an amazing time.

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