We’re on the last leg of our trip now, and whilst we’re both looking forward to getting back, unpacking our suitcases and not living in hotel rooms, it’s also sad to be reaching the end of our trip. Saying that, we’re beginning to realise quite how monstrous a task we have ahead of us in sorting out our photographs to make some sense, and not bore family and friends if they ask to see them.
We stayed in Singapore over the last week, but made an excursion to the Indonesian island of Bintan for a couple of nights. Top marks to Indonesia for the most impressive stamp in our passports. A whopping full page visa, complete with hologram and a triangular exit stamp too (round stamps are so yesterday…). Yes, it’s a tad sad to be getting excited about visas and suchlike, but travelling around in Europe feels a little unsatisfying without the resounding thud of a stamp being added to your passport.
The Nirwana gardens were everything we’d hoped for. We were very much in the mood for doing bugger all, sitting by the pool and drinking cocktails whilst we concentrated on relaxing. And relax we did. Frances had a 50 minute back massage and foot scrub, so came back very relaxed indeed. I just did some more pool sitting, with a little spot of archery/air rifle shooting. Not done that in years, and hit the target reasonably accurately.
Many thanks are due to our friends Dennis & Clodya, who - along with their cats - put up with us for a couple of nights before we went to Bintan, and looking after our big bags whilst we were away. Similarly Huw, Joel and Baron for putting up with us as well. Huw and Joel took us to a Hawkers food market one evening, which was quite a treat: A real taste of Singapore food. Blackened ducks eggs won’t make it on to my all-time-favourite foods though, but the sting ray was rather nice (and the bones(?) were nice and crunchy). Clodya’s home cooking was a treat too: there’s only so much ‘adventure eating’ you can do in a row, nice though it might be.
Bangkok then has presented itself to us, nose first so to speak. It does ming a bit in places, and the river is the colour of the ginger tea we tried in Singapore. Almost exactly. But I don’t think drinking it would be such a good idea…. Our flight up was a bit of a pain, with excess baggage fees, bumpy flight and a confused taxi driver all adding to the general atmosphere. Not to mention the pain of the ‘highlights’ from the football last night. We woz robbed! Anyway we found our hotel though, and have explored the area around, ready for an excursion to a big weekend market tomorrow, and some sighseeing on Sunday/Monday.
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