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6th April
Just done the online check in for our flight home tommorrow night and feeling distinctly maudlin about returning home. It doesn't seem two minutes since I sat at my Dad's PC the day before Xmas eve and did the online check in for the outward flight but if you track the days between then and now we have fitted an awful lot of stuff in and had some hilarious moments and fantastic experiences.
The flight to Singapore was fairly straight forward although we had to go via Darwin where we stopped for 45 minutes and the second leg was a bit more trying especially for little Meg. She became desparate for the loo, but couldn't leave her seat because of the turbulence - quite a story to be told there but not online! Our hotel is very luxurious, especially compared to the accomodation of the last 12 weeks but we all decided we would gladly swap it all for another few weeks in the van. We had heard lots of good things about Singapore and have crammed in quite a lot to the last 48 hours. It's a very well kept city with huge numbers of people in the tourist industry making the ratio of staff to guests in hotels etc quite phenomenal. Nothing is too much trouble for anyone and everything is organised to the 'nth degree. The heat is incredible too. The coldest Singapore gets is about 26 degrees and the daytime temp at the moment is around 34. What comes with that is the high humidity, like nothing we have ever experienced. It's like breathing hot clouds and seeking shade makes zero difference. The only respite is the airconditioned indoors and the city centre is one succession after another of shopping centres, often interconnected so in some areas you can walk two or three blocks without having to expose yourself to the humidity.
On our first morning we walked a good deal and realised we would run out of energy if we continued, so have used cabs a lot which are extremely cheap and they are not bothered about getting six bods into the cab. We visited a market where there was a lot of dried seafood on offer which gave off a pretty pungent odour. Isla found herself in amongst huge sacks of lots of different types of mushrooms and commented:"It's not like this in sainsbury's is it!" It is a shopoholics paradise (wipes the floor with Hong Kong) and we did our share of bargain hunting. The electronics sector is just incredible and there are whole malls (seven floors in one place) devoted to your e-life. I know a couple of people who would struggle to control themselves put in a mall like this and we all went round a bit wide eyed.
The Raffles Hotel is the most iconic landmark of the Colonnial era and quite a stunning building in its own right. Apart from this and several plaques around the area there isn't too much visually history. The main theme is onward and upward - in every sense. Singapore has just opened its own version of the London Eye called the Singapore Flyer and is a bit bigger than London's. We took a ride and the view from the wheel is incredible. In one direction is the port and outlying islands with hundreds of large boats and tankers lying at anchor and the other three quarters of the sky line is mile upon mile of tower blocks. It made me think for a minute how much I appreciate my own little leafy corner of Surrey.
Tonight we went, after many personal recommendations, to the Singapore night zoo. This is a standard zoo in many ways but you visit during the evening and are able to see many of the animals much more active than they would be during the day, for example the lions. There is also a very entertaining presentation of many nocturnal animals doing their thing and Isla was invited up on stage to help out demonstarting the superior sense of smell a small toothed Servet has (large cat like beast). She loved it and got plenty of appluase from the crowd. The host rewarded her with a token for a Ben & Jerry's icecream, and clearly expected Isla to be overwhelmed by this generosity - Isla didn't know who Ben & Jerry are, and looked like a 4 year old would if you told them that they were getting something that they didn't understand! It was quite funny!
The attention the children get in Singapore is even more intense than it was in Hong Kong. Everywhere we go Isla, and especially Meg, get the Chinese folk coming up and wanting to say hello and touch them. Isla has learned to play up to it a bit but Meg is still quite shy and burys her face in one of our legs or the buggy, although that doesn't deter a lot of them. Yesterday, while we were in a shop, one man who worked there took himself off and returned with a big bag of sweets for them to share - he went and bought this from a nearby shop... they find 4 children a novelty, and 4 girls seems to bring particular interest!
Last week we were all trying to list our favourite moments of the trip and could easily have listed 20 each. There are also many small events we will miss such as waking up to the sound of the laughing Kookaburras cackling their welcome to the day and only ever having to plan 24 hours ahead of ourselves - something which rarely happens in anyone's life nowadays. For Michele and I it's been a dream trip - a fitting sequel to our trip in the early nineties but so much more rewarding to have shared it with our four awesome daughters. There have been some challenging times and there a have been some spectaular times but all of them unforgettable. We have seen changes in all of us over the course of the three months and the way the children have developed has been a privilege to see 24/7.
We've travelled nearly 20 000 kms overland and slept in over 60 different places, mostly for one or two nights and occsionally for up to four or five. They have all had something to offer and pretty much without exception, everyone has been welcoming, hopsitable and wonderful.
Michele said to the children a few weeks ago when we were chatting in the van that one of the reasons we wanted to do this trip was to buy some glue! Glue to bind us together in our shared experiences, our view of the world and our happiness in being with each other. Well we found the glue and it's stuck fast. I don't know when we will next do something like this but I know one thing - it will happen. Thank you all for your lovely comments, emails and messages - we have enjoyed sharing what we have done with so many people - it's been great having you along for the ride! Here's to the next adventure - cheers!
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