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Firstly many thanks for all the kind messages after the last instalment. It has proven more of a challenge to finish the last few blogs over a year later, but the words of encouragement have spurred me on.
Ok, at the end of the last instalment we were just about to fly out of Auckland on to our final two destinations before returning back home, 6 months since we first set out. Before we landed a true test of stamina lay ahead, as we had a 10h flight to contend with, including a stopover in one of our favourite cities - Sydney. However this time we had struck gold and were flying out with Quantas and despite the slightly mardy air hostess, the service was pretty good. Now most people would be less than happy with a 3h stopover at an airport, but we were both looking forward to it. One of the great perks of working (and travelling) with a major pharmaceutical company is that you get to accumulate some serious air miles and reach the upper echelons of the VIP airport lounge as a result. As Quantas are affiliated with British Airways (BA), Melissa's 'Silver status' BA card allowed her access with the option to bring a friend in as well. As all her best pals were 2500 miles away in the UK, I got the nod as a reserve pal and we were both granted access. Inside lay an oasis of calm - comfy seats, free WIFI, fresh fruit and croissants piled a mile high. Not only was there a good spread of food on offer, but also a wide range of complementary drinks for consumption. Within minutes Melissa had cracked open the champagne and charged two glass flutes ready to go. There would be no warm up with a casual orange juice…she was straight onto the hard stuff! As we sipped the bubbles, we looked out to the city beyond and reminisced about our adventures to date. Time flies when you're having fun and it goes even quicker if you've had a skinful of champagne, so before long we were breezing through security and strapped in for the final leg of the journey.
After another long flight, we touched down in Singapore in the early evening. Other than a major shipping port I knew little about this place, but as the plane banked I could have sworn we had reached Las Vegas again with all the bright lights and impressive structures below.
After we cleared immigration, we left the airport to find a cab and the first thing that hit me was the heat. Fortunately we were not in Fiji and the taxi here actually had its own air con which cooled us down after our brief exposure to the humid heat. The airport was about 30 minutes out of town, so we got to see the city from beginning to end and towering above all else was the 'Marina Bay Sands Hotel'. If I was to tell you that the 'hotel' consisted of three high rise towers, topped off with a cruise liner on top, you would probably say I had lost my marbles. I must admit, I wondered whether I was dreaming when I saw it, but such a structure does exist. You have to see it with your own eyes, but check out the photo on here.
After the bright lights of the city, we continued into the suburb of 'Little India' where we had booked a hotel for our stay. Now I have never been to India before, but if Singapore's 'little India' is a reasonable representation then I will definitely go prepared. To sum it up, it was absolutely madness! People everywhere, motor bikes running riot and markets packed to the rafters with over- eager locals after their meat and two veg. This was certainly a rude awakening after a 10h flight and to make matters worse the taxi refused to go to the bottom of the street to drop us off. As we dragged our belongings through the streets, burning in the midnight heat, I did wonder whether this could have been our punishment for using the airport lounge in Sydney!
Nevertheless, we eventually found the 'Wunderlust hotel' and despite its tired exterior, the rooms were fantastic and modern and quirky by design. Despite the commotion outside, we slept extremely well after our journey that day!
Like most of our adventure we only had a few days in the city, so we were up early to enjoy the delights of a cooked breakfast before hitting the streets of Singapore. With Melissa's shopping senses guiding us we headed towards the Orchard shopping malls as the first stop. As it's so hot in Singapore, a lot of the shopping centres are actually situated underground. In fact you can walk for miles through a maze of tunnels and shops without seeing the light of day. I know this as we did exactly that and I am not sure which is more torturous - melting in the mid-day heat or walking through a shopping centre that never ends?! As we emerged from the abyss, we got our first taste of a 'mid-day shower'. As it's so humid, it rains for short periods most days and it can come on pretty suddenly if you're not prepared. Luckily I sensed the pending downpour and we took shelter in a nearby café before it really started. I am sure that we have all been caught out in a 'short sharp shower ' in the UK, but I can guarantee that, that doesn't compare to a Singaporean shower! Bright skies one minute and a monsoon another minute. If you get caught out, you might as well whip the loafer out and get your evening shower in as you're going to get soaked through. After the clouds passed we continued our walk and by pure chance stumbled across the 'Raffles Hotel'. Slightly inquisitive, we found the entrance to the 'Long Bar' situated within the colonial hotel. At one point, this was the world's longest bar, but it is famous for a certain type of cocktail called the 'Singapore Sling'. Now a lot of other hotels make this drink, but the original formula (whilst modified today) can only be served from this bar. It's predominately a gin, cherry and pineapple cocktail served with a foamy top and it tastes great even if it does cost the earth. It's also traditional to eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor, so there was no need to be prudish that day. After a couple of 'slings' we continued our walk down to the harbour and decided to take a ride on Singapore's equivalent to the 'London Eye'. The 'Singapore Flier' is a giant Ferris wheel that gives you the chance to take in the city sights from great heights. From above you can see hundreds, if not thousands of container ships in the sea nearby and inland, the route of the Grand Prix track which cuts through the bay area. It took about half an hour and we were in a booth with a Chinese family who seemed obsessed with taking photos of not only themselves but us as well!
After all this excitement we walked back to our hotel and decided to check out a local Indian restaurant called the 'Banana Leaf' and as the name suggests, all the dishes are served on a banana leaf! Tired after the day's expedition, we returned back to the hotel before the Indian rush hour hit.
The next day we decided to rest our feet and take one of the 'hop on/off' bus tours around the city. Initially we went to the marina area to sample some traditional Singaporean cuisine at the Lau Pa Sat hawker market in the business district. I should have mentioned before, but as a general rule it's pretty expensive in Singapore. However, the market is very affordable and therefore frequented by the locals and some tight arsed businessmen who want a cheap feed. It's also extremely busy during the lunch period and seats come at a premium. Unbeknown to us, the general etiquette to reserve a seat is to leave a business card on the table. Therefore after upsetting a few folk, we worked this out and reserved a table with random card I had in my pocket. Given the lack of seating, we decided to take turns to grab some food and I took a quick stroll round the stalls. There was lots to choose from and I went for a tasty noodle dish governed by the shortest queue. I have to say that place is not for the faint hearted and there is a bit of pushing and shoving required to get from one area to the next and in summary you need to be decisive. Now Melissa is many things (attractive, happy, caring), but decisive she is not, so it will come as no surprise that tempers flared after two rounds of the market without a single dish to show for her efforts. After a quick pep talk at the table, a strategy was hatched which resulted in a plate of food even if it wasn't her first choice!
After this debacle we walked off our dinner by ambling to the Lion shaped 'Merlion Water Fountain' by the marina. As we had 'hopped off' our bus at one end of a long bridge leading to the fountain we needed to hop back on at the other end. The next bus was due in 15 min's and under clear conditions, this should have been a comfortable stroll but what we didn't take into account was the hundreds of Chinese tourists lining the bridge. We worked our way through the maze with a sense of urgency, until I officially reached breaking point. It might just be me, but if you are going to straddle a path and take a photo, you will let the person who has been patiently waiting past and apologise for the inconvenience. However, this was the bridge of bad attitude and our path was repeatedly blocked by snap happy chaps with no acknowledgement or thought of moving. At last, the combination of the heat and need to run for the bus ignited my long standing fury for ignorant Chinese paparazzi and I flipped out! No time for manners now and I used my backpack as a plough to clear a path across the bridge. With seconds to spare we made our bus and fell into the seats unnecessarily hot and out of breath. Eventually we relaxed into our journey up to the Botanical Gardens on the edge of the city. The gardens are beautifully maintained and it was shame that we didn't have longer to fully explore them, but we did have enough time for a stroll to one of the fountains and relaxed from the bridge incident. After an hour we hopped back on the bus and retuned to the hotel for the evening.
As it was our final night in Little India, we decided to eat out again and to get into the spirit of things, we booked a table at a traditional Indian restaurant. After arriving early, we were shown upstairs and urged to take our seats on the cushions on the floor with a foot stool doubling up as the main table. Slightly confused on whether we were in the children's area, we sat crossed legged ready for the menu. The most I have sat in this position is during a yoga class, but I haven't sat for hours on end and I can conclude that its most uncomfortable. I blame my long legs and started to wonder whether it would be more comfortable to put my feet behind my head and try things that way! The menu was also interesting, not just the food section but also the 'chilli rating'. All dishes were rated on their likely heat, but the scale caused me some confusion. Rather than your typical 1-10 scale, the dishes were rated from 1.5 - 8 ?! As I did not fully understand the reason for this, I made the sorry mistake of asking why. We were told that a '1.5' heat was similar to a relatively hot curry in the UK and a '2' was very hot. We were also told that the chef can't handle anything beyond a '3' and it had to be the most random and totally useless scale I have ever heard of! Apparently there was a challenge whereby a customer gets their meal for free if they finish the hottest curry on the menu (rated 8!). Lord knows what they put in it other than the blazing sun, but the chef has to prepare it with gloves and safety glasses on, so you can only imagine what it does to your insides. Maybe I'm getting old, but the idea of self-combusting from the inside just doesn't appeal to me anymore…I'll stick with my sky diving! As promised, the food was hot and I lost a few pints of water through my forehead after foolishly taking on a '2' rated curry. Masculinity intact, but majorly dehydrated we returned back to the hotel feeling slightly more comfortable in the hustle and bustle.
We checked out of the Wunderlust hotel in Little India the next day and grabbed a taxi to the airport….our destination…Bangkok. Due to a number of reasons, we had to cut our world trip short which meant that we wouldn't have the time to fully explore as much of Thailand as we wanted. However as a compromise, we decided to take a 3-day trip to Bangkok, before flying home to the UK from Singapore. The flight was only a few hours, so we arrived in Bangkok around midday. Melissa was really excited about this part of the trip as she had been to Bangkok when she travelled around Thailand some years ago. On the other hand, I was slightly apprehensive about the prospect and the taxi ride into the city did little to ease my nerves. We were bundled into a cab (with one of the suitcases nearly staying on the airport pavement) and even though it was only a few hours flight away, the city was a distant cry from Singapore. I thought that the 'Little India' district was crazy, but this was up a notch!
Rather than staying in the central business district, we had pre-booked a room in 'Buddy's Lodge' on Khaosan Road (where Melissa had stayed previously). It soon became slightly troubling when the cab driver couldn't find our hotel and dumped us at the bottom of a very busy street. Rather unfortunately we ended up at the wrong end of Khaosan Road and had to walk the full length with Thai con men hassling me every two strides. It's very much 'in your face' over there and when I was grabbed by the arm the third time I had had enough. We eventually bundled our way into the hotel foyer and even though our room wasn't ready, we took welcome refuge from the madness outside.
After a quick respite, we braved the crazy street again and were quickly lured into a 'Tuk Tuk' ride. This consisted of a motorised scooter with an exposed open carriage with a seat in the rear for two. After a quick barter on the price our trip was rapidly underway and we prayed that we would return back in one piece. Now I though the driving in New Zealand was bad, however it's not a patch on Bangkok. Complete and utter madness proceeded and the ride was not for the faint hearted. The other thing that became apparent was that the Tuk Tuk drivers get commission by dropping naïve tourists like ourselves at various suit shops along the way. It didn't matter too much though, because since it's just so cheap I had planned to get a tailor made suit whilst we were there. After lots of attention and measuring every angle of my body, I departed with the money and hoped that the suit would be delivered the next day. After this point we were ready to go back, but the Tuk Tuk driver had other ideas. He decided that we needed a full tour of every suit shop in Bangkok and this wouldn't have been an issue if I hadn't just bought one full suit, with no intention of buying another. It became very awkward as we promptly exited various suit shops with a ream of perturbed shop assistants confused about why we wouldn't buy. Eventually we returned back to Khaosan Road, but this didn't stop the Tuk Tuk driver trying to con us on the price of the trip...cheeky boy. That evening we ate Pad Thai from one of the street vendors and spent an hour searching for a rubbish bin (FYI, there aren't any in Bangkok!). To relieve a bit of the tension, we treated ourselves to a traditional Thai massage and after paying up, we were ushered upstairs to the massage parlour. This consisted of people strewn across the floor and no obvious path through the bodies. Eventually we were shown over to our area and introduced to our masseurs, neither of which spoke a word of English. This proved interesting as the massage progressed and it turned into more of a wrestling match as I was contorted into various submission moves. In fairness, they massaged most things (within reason), including my ear lobes which were subject to some very firm fingering. After we had been beaten up for half an hour we chose to relax with a cool Singha beer in a nearby restaurant.
The next day we took a break from the madness and headed for a Thai cooking course in a suburb of the city. We were hopeful after reading a few reviews on the place, but slightly perturbed when we arrived in the middle of a Thai council estate. It was false alarm though, as we entered the gated complex of the 'BaiPai Cooking School', which was clean and professionally run. We had the chance to make authentic fishcakes, stir fries and various curries which we ate at the end of the course. This was a great experience, although we left with very full bellies. That evening my suit was delivered and then promptly returned for some final adjustments, as my waist size had gone up a few inches! Melissa also treated herself to a famous nutella, banana and condensed milk pancake from a street food stall. This seemed to be a magic moment for her…I guess it's the small things sometimes…
The next morning we checked out of our hotel in Bangkok, but we still had a few hours to kill before our flight. Struggling for inspiration, we jumped into a Tuk Tuk for another tour. This included a trip to several suit shops and a jewellers where we were suitably hassled to buy something. We then continued to a few temples (Big Buddha and Wat Pho) and when it turned out that we had to pay a packet to get into one, we returned back to where the Tuk Tuk driver had dropped us off. The only problem was that the cheeky beggar had left us high and dry. Unbeknown to us, the drivers will simply zoom off if they get a better offer and that's exactly what had happened here. Still in a state of denial, we plodded up and down the street with the baking sun on our backs frantically looking for the driver. After half an hour we concluded he was gone for good and we had to pay double to get back to the hotel. This bargain also included a trip to another suit shop and I was suitably ticked off by the whole experience, only to be fleeced again by the taxi driver on the way to airport. That concluded our Bangkok trip, although I did have a tailor made suit to show for the ordeal.
After flying back to Singapore, we checked into the Pan Pacific hotel in the downtown area. As this was our last 'sleep' before returning home we had decided to treat ourselves and the hotel didn't disappoint. This place gave the Trump Towers in Las Vegas a run for its money, as we had a balcony view of the whole bay area. To fully enjoy the view we ate room service on the balcony and concluded this was a great place to finish our trip.
After an amazing breakfast in the hotel, we took a walk over the bridge to the neighbouring Marina Bay Sands hotel. As I mentioned earlier this is an amazing structure and the shopping area isn't bad either. We found time to take the lift to the top of the hotel and walk along the cruise ship platform that stands on the top of the towers. There were some amazing views from up there, although the midday heat is pretty brutal. The day finished with Melissa doing a round of the shops, whilst I de-stressed in the fancy hotel gym. That evening we met on old school friend (Rob) who currently lives in Singapore and ate in another local hawker market. This was definitely more of a refined place than before and the only slight alarm was when Melissa became trapped inside when the shutters came down to close the restaurant. Luckily she made her way out and we returned back to the hotel bar to toast our finale with a glass of champagne. It was hard to believe that this was nearly the end of our trip of a lifetime.
We had arranged to keep our room all day and after freshening up we boarded the plane in the early hours to embark on the longest flight so far. It's always a come down when you're travelling back after a nice holiday, so imagine the feeling after 6-months! However, we were looking forward to seeing our family and friends again who we had only seen through Skype over the last 6 months.
We had a brief stopover in Dubai, before the wheels touched down in Birmingham airport at 2am in the morning and ironically after going round the world without a glitch, we thought we had lost our bags on the final luggage conveyer belt as they were last to come out. Eventually we cleared customs to be greeted by a very excited Rob and Carole (Melissa's parents) and left the airport at sunrise. I distinctly remember thinking how grey everything was in the UK, but it was nice to see some English countryside after a few days in Bangkok.
As I mentioned, I have wrote the last few blogs retrospectively, but it certainly brings the memories back. I worked out that we flew over 30,000 miles, drove over 4,500 miles and stayed in 76 separate beds! Some highs, some lows but certainly a life changing experience that we will never forget. After finishing this last blog, I have discovered that I wrote ~66,000 words all in all and as the average novel is 60-80,000 words, I might just have a book here! Over the next period of time we will be turning all this random rambling into a little book for posterity, so watch this space...
- comments
Chris Great as usual JD! Thanks for sharing your trip of a lifetime with us all, it's been good fun reading your blogs & I can truthfully say that I shall never go to Bangkok!! Do hope you get to do that book, it will be a wonderful way to remember your travels & 'help' other people to decide to follow your footsteps around the World or do some things differently! Well done & hope to see you soon, Chris xx