Last Holiday Post - Signs And Stuff

Pretty sure there's a power cord down there (Bangkok, Thailand).

How many years Ness? (Bangkok, Thailand)

Interesting waterproofing (Bangkok, Thailand).

Shhh! (Kathmandu Guest House, Kathmandu, Nepal)

High resolution so you can zoom and see the grossness. (Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal)

Oil change? (Pashputinath Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal)

Cool arches. (Pashputinath Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal)

Hello, is that you God? (Patan, Nepal)

One of these things is not like the others.... (Monkey Temple, Kathmandu, Nepal)

Anyone for drugs? (Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal)

Are you lookin' at me? (Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal)

Alcohal? (Pokhara, Nepal)

Worst toilets ever. (Pokhara Airport, Nepal)

Out of place sign. (Kathmandu, Nepal)

Business goes on amidst the demolition of 'illegal' houses to allow the airport road to be widened. (Kathmandu, Nepal)

Use emergency what? (Bangkok Loft Inn, Bangkok, Thailand)

It's all clear now. (Bangkok, Thailand)

Many of the hotels we stayed at provided room slippers. Classy! (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Think these were supposed to be elephants, but looked like something else to me. (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Not quite sure what this is, but I want one! (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

One of the weirdest things I've ever seen. (The White Temple, Chiang Rai, Thailand)

Fighting back. Clover growing in astro turf. (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

What could possibly go wrong? (Sa Pa, Vietnam)

Chee, my favorite person from the holiday. (Hmong Hill Tribe, Sa Pa, Vietnam)

Lavie water? (Throughout Vietnam)

Vietnamese girls love their makeup. (Hoi An, Vietnam)

Our pink waitress told us she has an economics degree with a major in commercial banking but couldn't get a job because she was too short and too plain. (Confetti Restaurant, Hue, Vietnam)

Anyone for soup? (Singapore) 'Wang' and 'Organ' in the one business name!

Singapore Hop-On Hop-Off Bus

Real tourists again. We bought a 24 hour hop-on hop-off bus ticket which turned out to be pretty good value and a good way to see the city. During our 'rounds' we saw few tourists about and it was the same on the bus. It was always less than 50% full.

What do you do when one of the bus stops is at the famous Raffles Hotel?

You guessed it! Have a Singapore Sling at the Long Bar.

On our travels we passed the dodgyest building in Singapore.

And some other Singapore landmarks.

Some video from the bus through Little India. Not far from where we were staying.

It's not as hot here as I expected, low 30s through the day and low 20s at night. Still humid though.

We're at Changi Airport, boarding in about an hour. Home tomorrow morning.

Singapore Exploration Day

No real plan for today, just grab some breakfast and jump on the MRT to somewhere. To start with, that somewhere turned out to be Orchard Road. All the brand name stores again. Sue said that Sophie would have heart palpitations if she ever happened to be on Orchard Road.

Sue deciding where to go to next. Bvlgari or Canali.

This is my fourth time in Singapore and I've never taken many photos. Shopping centres and buildings aren't very good subjects for me, unless they have interesting names.

Or they are rare.

Plenty of rain around today, but not really a problem when many of the MRT stations are under the shopping malls. We bailed from Orchard Road and jumped on the train to Little India, the opposite end of the scale, to find somewhere for lunch. Mmmmm, street curry served on a banana leaf. A couple of days before we fly again so it's okay to be a bit adventurous.

After a look around Sim Lim Square and other stand alone electronic shops, there's no real bargains to be had here. An iPod Classic here is S$348, which is about AU$278, and you can claim a GST rebate of about 6% when you leave the country, so that makes it about AU$262. That exact same model is on the BigW website for AU$268 with free delivery. I bought a fast 16GB SD card for my camera for S$28, but I had to haggle. Still about the same price I can buy it on-line at home.

On the way home from dinner we saw the sleeping rickshaws.

Last Stop Singapore - April 23rd

Almost a full days travel to get from Hong Kong to Singapore.

Hong Kong International has two terminals, T1 is where the flights arrive and depart and T2 is check-in for the budget airlines, we flew Jetstar. From check-in back to the boarding gates in T1 is advertised as 40 minutes. It took us that long with only a 5 minute wait at passport control and 5 minutes at security. There were no boarding calls that we heard for any Jetstar flights so we made our way to the gate about 30 minutes before departure time. We were still at the back of the queue. Found out why :) It was a 10 minute bus trip from the boarding gate to the plane.

This was the most cramped flight I've ever done. The seats were ridiculously narrow and even for me legroom was limited. As we were in the air over lunchtime I ordered meals when I booked the flight. They were revolting. Should have just taken a packet of chips. I know it was cheap and it would have been okay for a short flight but not for three and a half hours. Won't be doing that again. Our flight on Air Asia was much better in every respect.

Checked into the hotel, Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen, and went for a look around. The hotel is across the road from Sim Lim Square, around the corner from Bugis Street and five minutes walk from Little India. There are literally hundreds of cafes and restaurants within five minutes walk as well as two MRT stations, markets and malls.

We headed for Bugis Street to find a coffee shop. So many people.

Lanes of shops and eateries everywhere.

I'm sure it was Yu mee.

A bit of rain around tonight. Still over 30C and after the rain really humid. Just had a cold lime drink from a street stall. There was so much condensation dripping from the container it looked as though it was leaking.

BTW I had the cold lime drink because other than Starbucks, we couldn't find a proper coffee shop. That is now a priority for tomorrow.

Honkers Day Two

The weather forecast was good, so the plan for today was to visit The Peak. We caught the MTR subway train to Central and walked to the tram terminal.

Hong Kong Central station is huge. It was a ten minute walk from the train to the exit we wanted.

On the walk from the train we saw one of the funky little double decker street trams. We didn't get to ride one of these.

After a ten minute walk from the J2 subway exit we got to the tram terminus.

Seems like everyone was waiting for a good day to visit The Peak. It was hot lined up in the sun. Cool chrome column.

It took about an hour to get through the ticket counter and onto the tram. The photos look a bit frantic but it wasn't that bad. And the steep tram ride itself is a bit of fun.

At the top there's shopping malls, posh restaurants, Burger King, coffee shops, cheaper eateries etc. You could be anywhere in Hong Kong really. But then you step outside....

It was a good opportunity to play with fisheye.

After having a look at a few restaurant menus, we thought about a cheaper lunch option.

But decided on something fat free instead. Look good Sami?

Including the commute it takes pretty much a full day to visit The Peak, but it was worth the effort. It would be even more spectacular on a perfectly clear day.

Last stop Singapore tomorrow.