Ascott Singapore Raffles Place

... we were about to leave the zoo staff stuck a ladder up and allowed 4 grown apes and a baby down from the tree tops for a feeding session. We jumped a the chance to get a photo with them before heading over to the Big Cat area to catch sight of the elusive Leopard that we missed on iur African Safari earlier in the year. Job done we followed the reverse trip back to town and got some dinner in one of the malls. Afterwards we visited the famous Raffles Hotel and had some Singapore ...

... leave the Singaporean army (which in itself is something to celebrate), 2) we had a sizeable amount of leave to clear and 3) we had not been overseas for some time, what better way to break the monotony of daily life by taking a short city break in Hong Kong? Besides, it had been 7 years since I had last visited the city, and I was curious as to how much it had changed over the years - Hong Kong is supposedly one of the fastest-changing cities on Earth. Finally, I needed to see for ...

... il est impossible d’en apporter dans ses bagages et d’en acheter dans la ville. Il y a des messages et des reconstitutions d’attentats qui passent en boucle sur les ecrans dans les wagons et vous incitent fortement a signaler toute personne d’allure suspecte! Bref, nous avons vecu un petit choc culturel.

Le premier repas fut une vraie aventure, nous n’avions aucune idée de ce que nous ...

... they could wheel about. I had no idea what to make of it and to me it seemed highly un-PC but people were enjoying themselves nonetheless...

Anyway we found ourselves in Arena and I could tell it would be a good night as my gin and lemonade was made with real lemonade (not awful mass produced Tesco Value) from actual lemons as opposed to flavoured esters. There was a live group on who actually weren't that bad playing better music than Zouk ...

... original 3hr delay we should have been boarding at about 7pm, they started boarding at about 8.30. Didn't take too long, and just after 9pm we were taking off. We settled into our seats, I watched 4 episodes of Greys Anatomy, Rob played games and watched Family Guy, we had our main meal then fell asleep. A few hours later we awoke to more food that I couldn't stomach so went back to sleep.

Finally, we landed in Singapore at about 3am, practically ...

... great hopes for the Singapore Handicraft Centre as a place to get some good gifts. Big disappointment. "There are no people because it is full of tat and rubbish" Ella remarked. Nicely air conditioned though! Off to the Night Safari later so back to hotel for a quick nap.

Singapore is a fine city! Examples include No chewing gum (S$1000), No pets or animals (S$500), No eating or drinking (S$500) and No durians (smelly ...

... sort of "knot" in your unconscious mind, and that you are constantly generating these "knots", except when you are meditating, so that gives a chance for these "knots" to come to the surface of the mind and evaporate. (yes, I know, what a ************). And once they have all evaporated, you will become fully liberated from all of life's miseries and find real inner peace and harmony and happiness. (yes, again, what a ************). So I don't buy that explanation, and I don't ...

... The other man at some point into the journey got really mad & got off the bus. We picked up a hoard of schoolkids from school & the driver dropped them all off at their individual homes, even when they lived a few houses from each other. I tried communicating to the young ticket-seller on the bus who knew I was going to the airport. He called someone from his cell phone & handed it to me.I agitatedly ...

... clean underwear to line dry. Just had dinner of blackened claypot rice with my brother, dad and dad's friend Paul. Was a good meal. I know I told a few of you I'd be more available for facebook IM but apparently I didn't know I'd be staying at my uncle's empty flat, which has no internet, so... sucks to be you. Shan't be catching up on the blogs too much, in any case. Tomorrow night I return ...

... motors along like he's got somewhere to go, it's really cute, I think he'll be walking in no time. Samuel's hair is going so he's starting to get those little baby curls forming. He has been saying dadada and mamama for a while now but I think he is actually putting the names to us. Saturday during the day we spent house hunting for the back up choice and to make sure we were comfortable with our decision. The ...