Stop Screaming. You're in Singapore.

I was quite looking forward to Singapore. Unfortunately I can't say the same for Greg. I think he was sad to say goodbye to Indonesia and specifically lazing on a beach. This verses busy city was never going to incite enthusiasm in him. But... He was very pleasantly surprised. From the moment we stepped on the Air Asia plane everything went smoothly. They gave us a comedy safety run-through, including quips like "we aren't going to tell you how to do up your seatbelt because if you don't know you shouldn't be allowed out in public" and "if the pressure goes, the oxygen mask will drop down. Stop screaming. Fit your own mask before you help idiots who can't do theirs". It must have been scripted but it certainly did the job of getting everyone's attention. I can't see British Airways doing it though. At Singapore airport everything was  quick, clean and efficient. There were no queues at passport control, and my bag came off first on the belt. I strolled on straight through customs to the row of most honest taxis in the world, and then turned round to see Greg getting stopped for having bullets in his bag.... Unfortunately Singapore airport's efficiency was not in our favor that day. Even from the moment his bag came out contained in a suspicious plastic box, which was obviously to alert ground security, I could tell something was up. We both thought it was his collection of sea shells they'd picked up on x-ray but no, it was a different type of shell. We had conveniently forgotten the souvenir empty casings he had picked up from the Chu Chi tunnels when we fired the M-16, as they hadn't been picked up on the other 3 flights we'd taken since. But as he tried to clear customs innocently they were on him like hawks, and as Greg was ushered to the security office making jokes and laughing, I was thinking just how serious it might be. It was, and we had to wait for the police to arrive in-order to take a statement. He was let off with a warning, and told he would be taken to jail if he ever brought contraband into the country again... Umm don't think that will be happening! As capital cities on this trip go - Singapore was pretty good. Obviously not in the way Rio de Janeiro was amazing but in a non-irritating even though it's a city way.  Here's why: it's pristinely clean, it's residents seem to respect their surroundings unlike our capital - although I guess the being heavily fined part for even dropping a cigarette butt might have something to do with it. Why don't we do that? The public transport is reliable, air conditioned and again very clean. The taxis are on meters, they are honest, reliable and safe. The first language is English, and the plug sockets are English (I was very excited about this). It's safe, you will never feel safer in a city than in Singapore. It's got a lot of history, and interesting architecture to go with it. Some of the new buildings are amazing. The food is great and there are good hygiene standards even in the hawkers markets.  It was such a pleasant relief to be somewhere like this in a clean environment and not having to worry about getting ripped off, poisoned or mugged. It's not the most exciting place in the world that we've been to but you don't always want exciting on a world trip. Anyway I'll stop trying to sell it to you. It's great for a few day's stop, although it does sort of put a dampener on dirty Malaysian cities after you've been spoilt by Singapore. You sort of expect grime from cities like Bangkok but for some reason, maybe because Malaysia is more developed, you think it should be cleaner, but it's not. Anyway more about that in the next blog. We checked into a hostel, the first time we've actually pre-paid for somewhere on this trip. We arrived just before Singapore's birthday celebrations so everything was busy and booked up. The hostel was fantastic. Despite having to go into a 14 bed full dorm and paying twice what we've been paying for a private double everywhere else (that's the only bad thing about Singapore) it was great. Free unlimited toast and tea all day, amazing power showers and pretty much the TV to ourselves in the living room. I have to admit we did spend several days missing the intense midday heat, and instead watching the Olympics eating toast. I don't know if it was just me and the fact that I really regretted not being in London to soak up the atmosphere, but everytime I watched  as team GB were either winning or losing I kept welling up. I think it's just the elite sport in general, seeing the pride and happiness or the devastated disappointment in their faces. It makes you feel a little part of it for them. Anyway, at least I was able to watch some of it, and at least we were in a nice place to recall it when I get asked by my grandchildren - "where were you when the Olympics came to London?". I'm definately sorry I can't say London, but our trip is a once in a lifetime opportunity too. We walked and walked. From the gorgeous Raffles Hotel, to the strange boat on legs looking luxury hotel skyscraper at Marina Bay Sands, to the botanical gardens and getting eaten by mossies, to the hectic Little India for a cheap curry, to the bustle of Chinatown for amazing hawker food, through the air-conditioned endless shopping malls on orchard road and to the art and science museum on the river front to see a brilliant and free Andy Warhol exhibition. The weather was glorious if a tad sweat inducing but the city looked great against the sparkling blue skies. We met up with an old colleague from iris London - Paul and his wife Emma. They kindly invited us over for dinner, and to their fabulous high rise apartment with amazing views, pools and themed gardens. It was a lovely evening, and it felt strange to see a face we knew after so long. It also made me think about work a lot... Actually in a positive way, wondering what my next step should be. We drank a lot of wine, to my delight after all that Bintang, and Paul gave us a few tips on what to see in the city. We stayed an extra day to see the birthday fireworks which were good, and to do some more walking, and also for me to eat some more amazing chinese sweet and sour pork made by a little old couple in the hawkers market in Chinatown. But eventually we decided we couldn't afford to stay another night and took a bus to the Malaysian boarder and onto the penultimate country on our list.