Christchurch to Brisbane to Singapore

A Singapore Sling - 26 dollars. Jim wouldn't let me have a second!

Raffles!


This sculpture was being made with the above plastic beakers.

Merlion Park.

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

The day's journey from Christchurch took 24 hours from getting up to going to bed again. We lost 3 hours in the journey to Brisbane where we met Bill and Jill, our exchangees in October. I had bought a book in the airport in Singapore but had finished it while waiting for our connection in Brisbane where I bought another. The Captain on the flight to Singapore could not get the in-flight entertainment to work so I had my book finished a good 2 hours before our arrival (I was wodering if I could claim the cost of the books from Qantas, after all I had to buy my own in-flight entertainment and it was supposed to be part of the air fare!). I then spent the time building cities on my phone- there were some rather shaky tower blocks but I put that down to turbulence during the flight. Jim normally watches the flight information re distance, air conditions etc so it was fortunate that he had bought a crossword book.

Singapore is beautifully lit up for Christmas we discovered during our taxi trip from airport to hotel. It is a city and I have not yet discovered a city that I really like. We spent yesterday touring for want of a better word (going round in circles, with Jim again disproving his belief that he has a good sense of direction and that he is good at map-reading! I, at least, realise that I am useless at this). A hop on hop off bus had been recommended but it had little in the way of commentary so I know little more than I did before I arrived here. We hopped off for a quick tour of the Botanic Gardens - impressive if you had time to explore. It was interesting to see the number of people who begin their day with Tai Chi at the gardens - just like in Vietnam. We might make our way to the Gardens again today if the weather is kind - that means not raining but still around the early 30s and high humidity (not really kind but I suppose kinder than the weather at home!). We hopped off again at the Singapore Flyer (big wheel), simply because we would have had to wait 5 minutes on the bus, not because we were inclined to see the city from the air and in the process get air sick!. We made our way through streets full of construction of one sort or the other to Merlion Park for some photos and a coffee and it was downhill from there - not literally, but getting lost and wandering about without a clue where to hop on again does not appeal to me! The afternoon found us sipping Singapore Slings in Raffles - that was less frustrating than getting lost again. Then the heavens opened for the rest of the day!

Today we will endeavour to appreciate some more of what Singapore has to offer before we begin the long trip home. We will be transferred to the airport at 8pm for flight just before 11pm. This will be a 13/14 hour flight to Frankfurt where we have about 5 hours before our connection to Dublin where Brian will meet us and ferry us home. We expect it will be picture and no sound until well into Sunday so don't tempt fate or you might be snarled at! After that we hope to get into the Christmas spirit in conditions less incongruous than in New Zealand or Singapore.

Any final photos will be posted after we get home - if Christmas preparations allow!

As you can see, pictures have been added!