Our time in Singapore

I16th december 2014

Singapore was a modern city built up from an old colonial port. It's shiny and clean and hot, very hot. Well humid is more accurate. A thick air that clings to your skin and reminded me a lot of Mumbai. In fact, you could easily mistake the area which we were staying in as Mumbai, the aptly named Little India. 

On our first day there we arrived at the hotel during a tropical rain downpour, dazed and tired and forced ourselves to stay up and went to dinner at a local Indian restaurant. The next day we walked across the city to the CBD area where we found ourselves surrounded by huge glass building and millions of shopping malls all decorated with Christmas decorations which was slightly disorientating as we were sweating and desperately seeking out shade. We visited the ArtScience museum where dad got his head 3D printed and we enjoyed the air con then walked through a giant hotel which resembled three pillars holding up a cruise ship (possibly called the Marina Bay Hotel) to the Garden By The Bay where you find some beautiful plants and a collection of tall structures made to look like space age trees. Around the garden was a faux-german christmas market and, hilariously, a plastic statue of a snow man. 

The following day we decided to visit Sentosa Island, which boasts Singapore's universal studios, an aquarium and a water park. We spent the day in the aquarium (mainly because we forgot our swimming costumes for the water park) and when we reappeared into natural light we were greeted by more lashings of rain. That night, perhaps because of the heat, or tiredness or the food I was not feeling my best and as I talked to Ralph on the big white telephone (I am sure google will tell you what that means if you aren't already aware) Bonnie and dad went out for Mexican food. 

Bonnie and dad at the Garden By The Bay

On our last day in Singapore we hopped on the underground to the China Town quarter of the city and then walked down to the riverside where we looked around the national museum and then had lunch at one of the many tourist restaurants by the river. Our taxi picked us upthat evening from our hotel and drove us to the Changi Airport.

Our trip from Singapore to Auckland, New Zealand was another long journey through uncomfortable seats, numerous movies and airports which all looked the same as the last. We were all relived to exit the plane and know that we wouldn't be entering another one for at least a month, however the arrivals checks at Auckland meant that from landing in the plane to actually getting out of the departure gate took an excruciating one and a half hours (this was mainly on account of my dad carrying some muddy boots with him in his luggage which needed to be cleaned to ensure no biological contamination, or as my dad put it 'a free shoe wash! If I'd have known I would have brought them all!'). When we did finally walk out of arrivals we were greeted by Oli, our cousin who had been living in various locations down under for 3 years, would be joining us in our little van across the islands and was understandably a bit more perky than me, my dad and Bonnie. We all jumped in a taxi to our hotel which is just by the quay in Auckland and decided once again to fight the urge to sleep and instead to go and find somewhere to eat. Auckland is much much cooler than Singapore and I was feeling nippy in my jeans and a t-shirt due to the strong winds which the North Island is renowned for. We are at a uninteresting restaurant which could have been in any marina in the world (including Brighton) and headed back to the hotel where we allowed ourselves to sleep.

This morning I have woken up feeling pretty dazed, a mixture of jet lag and general tiredness is probably to blame. It has also hit me how little baggage I have, especially when it come to warm clothing. A year is a bloody long time, I am coming to realise. Also I have been pondering that the next time I will be in an airport I will be on my own and setting off to Sydney. At this point in time my excitement levels are much less than I was expecting them to be. I am not too worried about this though because so far we have only been in Singapore and Auckland, two cities, and cities were never going to be the main attraction for me. I can't wait to get into the campervan and start doing some real travelling! So much stuff to cram in and look forward to!

Today we get our first taster of 'real' New Zealand with a day trip to Waiheke Island, which is meant to be beautiful.

Thanks for reading x