FRIDAY 13 April 2012

1 day down 157 days to go.

Well it is hard to believe that the day Paul and I have been planning for over the past 4 years has finally arrived. We have spent much time in the past month catching up with so many of our friends and family knowing that it would be 6 months before we would see them again. 

We spent our final night in Perth with our great friends Damon, Katie and their two kids. Damon had offered to take us to the airport which was greatly appreciated, though I think he may have had second thoughts when he found out we would need to be out of bed at 4.45am JOY!  Who books flights at such ridiculous hours? Having been on holidays since mid December I have been lucky to see the day before 8am. 

So after a night of “Singstar” with Pip, and by the way I am a SINGSTAR. (I can hear “The Voice” calling.) Drinks, a BBQ and lots of catch up for the boys (Read MANY drinks and cigars) we called it a night waiting the hours out.

At 5.15am we woke the Atthowe household to say our goodbyes and for Paul to give Aiden the goodbye slobbery kiss he’d promised him.  Cue the screaming and cowering for the hairy 13 year old. No sign of Pip, so we will say goodbye to her now. Sleeping beauty would sleep through a cyclone.

At 5.30am the city was alive with early morning commuters. Things were beginning to awaken and another day was beginning to unfold. Damon dropped us safely at the airport, thanks again, and in we lugged our bags and headed for check-in. The red tape rigmarole that is international flying, was extremely smooth, despite 5 other flights leaving in quick succession.  

We tried for an upgrade with no avail. We could have it if we wanted to pay for it we were told. Thanks Singapore air!

Paul set the metal detectors off when going through x-ray, as expected with an artificial hip. I wonder how many other times it will happen?  Then on to border protection and passport control and my first gripe. NO passport stamps. How do they expect me to keep track of the holidays I go on and to look back on the stamps collected bringing back memories of the exotic places I have ventured to if they don’t stamp my passport? It really does make my 32 page passport redundant. I can see passports being like drivers licences in the future.

By now there was 1 hour to fill in with duty free shopping, and checking Facebook and email, though not on the mac as the wireless within the airport is crap. At least they have some free booths to use.

The view of the plane and the city from the departure lounge, was distorted by the low, thick cloud cover, but by the time we were called to board it was already dissipating. The clouds however did delay our flight not reaching the skies until 8am. 

 

The take off was uneventful, but the view was the best I have had on any flight. Clear views of the City, Swan River, Subiaco Oval, Herdsman Lake and UWA. We then headed north along the coast from Cottesloe to beyond Moore River.  It was spectacular. 

 

We settled into the flight and chose our entertainment, George Clooney looked good to meJ so I checked out “The Descendants”.

Breakfast arrived at 9.15am Omelette for me and chicken noodles for Paul. We are the strange people that actually look forward to airline food and ate all with gusto YUM!  And on it went for the following 5 hours. Finally touching down on the tarmac again at 1pm.

It was a swift escape through Changi airport and into a taxi on our way to the Albert Court Hotel in the little India Quarter. After the check-in we settled into our room before venturing out to explore the nearby block of shops.

We stopped first for lunch in a food court which I found amusing when I read one of the food stalls “Pig Organ Soup” it read, can give that a miss was my reaction and settled on a mundane fried noodle dish. 

 

Fuelled up we wandered through the tech shopping quarter. You could buy basically anything you wanted in cameras, mobiles and tablets. 

Feeling weary, we made our way to a 711 to stock up on mixers & beer, passing the new arts school. This looked like a great place to hang out.  We then enjoyed some rest time in the room before hitting the streets again.

We took the MRT to Clarke Quay where we had wandered 10 years earlier. It has changed dramatically in that time. We walked around to Marina Bay for great views of the Marina Bay hotel, the Lotus Flower Museum, Singapore Flyer and Merlion. The whole area was vibrant and alive with Friday afternoon drinkers. I think Perth could learn a lot about waterfront development from Singapore. 

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We continued our walk to Boat Quay where we ate a seafood dinner by the river and watched the laser light show from the Marina Bay Hotel. 

Our night finished with a final lap of Clarke Quay and a return journey on the MRT.

Singapore is still a super sanitised city that lacks the earthiness of its Asian neighbours. The streets are spotless and you can still be fined for just about everything but it has developed a fun side that it was calling out for and I thoroughly enjoyed every second.