Arrived in Singapore

Wednesday 10th February 2010

Great flight even though it was supposed to be Qantas but was run by BA staff (same company now since they merged). We were boarded first as per the last blog and didn't realise they had closed the doors ready for take off as there so many seats empty. I shared a row of 3 with a German girl whilst Kath had the centre 4 seats to herself. I counted the people in our section of the plane and there were 30 people taking up 120 seats. People were laying across the middle 4 seats covered in blankets whilst others had to make do with 3 seats to themselves. I could have moved but I fell asleep before the briefing and woke up after we had taken off. I watched The Damned United, the Brian Clough story of his 44 days as manager of Leeds United...very good. We had to fill out disembarkation cards before entering Singapore and they had the stern warning attached to the front that drug trafficking meant DEATH (see photo)...people can't say thjey haven't been warned, just hope no-one slips something into my suitcase when I'm not looking. We actually set off early and arrived in Changi Airport almost 40 minutes early. Our suitcases were some of the very first to come around the conveyor belt and we were in the taxi and almost at the hotel by the time our plane should have landed. We are staying at the Park Hotel, Clarke Quay on the recommendation of the tour operator. I was going to book the Novotel which is just around the corner but when we went out, it transpired that thje Novotel would have been better as we have to cross a dual carriageway from the Park to get to the Quay.

We toured around the very busy bars and restaurants in Clark Quay but was shocked at the prices they were charging for drinks. $S15 dollars for a Corona, that even beats the Aussies most expensive bars at over £6.50 a bottle. I could have 4 for that price at the Club ! Nontheless, it seems an enchanting place, I can see why you like it Fiona. Kath is snoring yet again whilst I write the blog and with the 3 hours time difference from Sydney, it is time for me to call it a night also.