16 July 2009, 4:15pm local time. At Pacific Coffee Company cafe in Singapore using the free internet to get back at them for charging me S$5 for a tea?!

Hello and goodbye (tear, tear, sniff, sniff…) from Singapore!

We're currently in Singapore, and there are only a few hours left to go before we fly back to London (then to Madrid, and finally to Toronto), and begin to brace ourselves for our return to the "real world". Where the heck have 3.5 months gone? Really?! It's crazy to think that only one week ago today we were snorkeling in Koh Tao, and encountering the most exotic, varied, and beautiful sea creatures and marine life on the planet (and yes, we've been scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef, so that's how amazing Koh Tao is)! It was like watching "Under the Sea" in 3D at the IMAX in Sydney again, only much closer, brighter and better!!! The best part is that no matter where you snorkel in Koh Tao you're guaranteed to see innumerable schools of fish of every variety, sea cucumbers covering the sea floor, clown fish and pink skunks hiding out in anemones, purple and blue giant clams, and plenty of other strange and wonderful things! The other highlight is that you don´t need to take a 2 to 3 hour boat ride out to a reef in the middle of nowhere… the abundant sea life can be found by the shore so all you need to do is step into the water and you´re greeted by hundreds of tropical fish! I know this is a wild claim so see the video that we´ve posted as evidence! I must also mention Nangyuan Island… OMG… what a small, but stunning island with fine white sand beaches, crystalline waters, and a breath taking sight from the highest point. Beaches around the world take note - THIS is how you ought to be!

Our hotel in Koh Tao made our time there even more memorable. Because the island isn´t quite as developed as the likes of Koh Samui and Koh Phangan, the accommodation is much more, shall we say, rustic/authentic. The best way to describe our room is as a tree house. It was literally perched up in a tree (with all sorts of critters… we´ve learned to pick out the sound of a gecko among the insect/reptile orchestra!), it´s very open concept (we found bird, monkey, or gecko poo... we´re not sure who the culprit is... in our bathroom… gross, I know), and it had limited facilities (the shower was more of a hose and you could choose between scalding or freezing water neither of which is ideal, trust me). Note to travelers headed to Koh Tao: "boutique" is code for treehouse so be prepared! Apart from the minor inconveniences, we had an incredible view of Jansom Bay from our room, which was pricelss, and the entire time we were like two giddy kids who were camping for the first time!

After a few days on the set of "Under the Sea", we made our way back to land, and stepped on to the set of the "Truman Show". For those of you who haven´t seen the latter film, it stars Jim Carey and takes place in a manmade, self-contained, perfect world. Singapore, in many ways, reminded us of this film. Why? Well, there are several reasons, and here are a few:

- For starters, Singapore is incredibly green! As you leave the airport the highways and streets are landscaped with (palm) trees, plants and flowers. The same gardening ethic is also found throughout the city. It´s impressive and it looks beautiful. We did a walking tour, and our guide said that they plant new trees, plants, and flowers at a rate of 8,000 per day!!! Not 80, or 800... 8,000!

- It´s squeaky clean! Even Chinatown is uncrowded, unpolluted, and very tame. Had it not been for the Chinese lanterns, noodle bars, and hello kitty gear we would´ve thought we were on any other Singaporean street!

- The people are unbelievably friendly and positive, and special mention goes to the staff at touristic places like Sentosa Island, and the Zoo/Night Safari; they´re chocolate brownie with caramel on top kind-of-sweet, greeting everyone with a huge smile, and a warm "hello! have a fantastic day!" I guess the "Singapore Kindness Movement" (no, I didn´t make this up) is working! Scattered throughout the city are care bare-like statues promoting kindness and cleanliness… a little weird, but it seems to be incredibly effective. We even found happy, positive messages in the subway. One time keeping screen had the following quote displayed: "Many of life´s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success until they gave up" - Thomas Edison. It´s amazing to see how overt and subliminal positive messaging affects society for the better. Singaporeans on the whole are kind, warm, and patient people.

- There are loads of rules, and fines if you break them. You can get fined for pretty much anything including littering. We also came across a sign that forbade durian fruit on public transport (subways, buses, taxis) because of its obnoxious smell. Funny enough we bought one to try (which was disgusting, and most definitely an acquired taste), and we got into a cab without knowing this rule. The first thing the cab driver said to us was "do you have a durian with you??" and rolled down the windows as if we had set off stink bombs! He forgave us because we were foreigners, but if a Singaporean broke this rule the driver would´ve kindly asked him/her to get the %&$$ out of his cab!

-They have a genuinely good government who have the people´s interests at heart. This past May Singapore celebrated its 50th anniversary of good governance since self-government in 1959. As a developing nation (or in any other first world nation for that matter) this is virtually unheard of. Among the many great things the government has done for Singapore, some of the most important are: Establishing a superior standard of education (everyone is at the very least bilingual - They speak English, their mother tongue, and perhaps a 3rd, 4th, or 5th language); They have a high standard of living (they rank 4th in terms of GDP per capita); They have a highly developed market based economy (which employs thousands of expats); They´re currently working on plan to be fully self sufficient with regards to fresh water (for years there have been disputes between Malaysia and Singapore over water supplies, but that won´t be the case for much longer); And on, and on, and on. The best part is that we learned most of what I´ve written here today from a taxi driver named Mr. Tan. He was a driving encyclopedia, and he taught us more in 20 minutes than we learned from all our travel guides on Singapore put together!

All in all we enjoyed Singapore, and for all the marvelous things this tiny nation has accomplished, we missed that it wasn´t as authentic and full of character as the other Southeast Asian countries we´ve visited. It felt as if we were in any North American city (only perfect, lol!). I suppose that´s one of the miniscule drawbacks of being the most globalised nation on earth. We spent a total of 6 days in Singapore (21-23 June, 13-16 July), but a 3 day weekend would´ve sufficed to see the key sights: the infamous Raffles Hotel (named after Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles who arrived in Singapore in 1819 and turned it into a very important British trading port), the Long Bar (home of the Singapore Sling), the Merlion statue, the vibrant harbour front along the Singapore River, Clifford Pier (key shipping pier back in the day), Chinatown, the Zoo, Sentosa Island, and the various shopping centers and markets including Bugis Market and Bugis Junction. It may sound like a lot, but we managed to see/do everything within a few days, so we´re spending that last stretch of our trip shopping (window shopping to be more precise!), and in an hour we´ll be going to the movies to see "Transformers 2" (I know, it´s not the most inventive or interesting way to end the trip, but there you have it, lol!).

This evening at 11pm we depart for London, and then from there, fly to Madrid to begin a weekend full of celebratory festivities in honour of Miguel´s (Daniel´s brother) 30th Birthday! No doubt the endless supply of sangria will help take our minds off reality for a few more days, sigh!

Finally, before we say goodbye, I´d like to thank everyone so much for keeping up with us... it means the world to us that you care enough to take the time to read our often long-winded blogs, and to view our seemingly endless photo albums! Sending you all a BIG hug, and can´t wait to see many of you very, VERY soon!

Signing off for the last time (until the next adventure, of course!),

Your trekkers,

Jennifer & Daniel