Last day of November...

.. and already, before December has struck, I've:

• eaten a mince pie
• sung some carols
• enjoyed the central heating

It's still very pleasant out in the daytime, around 20-23C during the morning, but distinctly chillier in the evenings. Richard phoned the guy who used to own our house, and he came over to show him how to service the central heating on Monday. We're only using it for a couple of hours first thing in the morning, and from about 5pm-9pm in the evenings, but it's so nice to come into a warm room if we've been out. After nine winters in house that got extremely cold during the winter, we appreciate it all the more.

As for the mince pie and carols: yesterday afternoon there was an informal advent service at Larnaka Community Church for young families; I went to help in the kitchen, but couldn't resist a delicious mince pie. This weekend I hope to make our Christmas cake and some mincemeat, then mince pies will become a regular feature, but I don't think I've eaten one in November before.

There was only one carol in the advent service, but in the evening we went to a book fair at Grace Church, with refreshments, candles, book reviews, and about four carols to sing. There was also a stall selling Tear Fund Christmas cards, which we can't usually get in Cyprus, so as Daniel's not here to design original cards for us (as usually happens) I bought eighty, and will start writing them soon... maybe I'll even post them before the last posting date!

Still a little disorientated

It's a bit strange having been away for most of November. October is when Autumn starts - roughly - in Cyprus. Rain after months of drought, less humidity, pleasant temperatures. Jeans rather than shorts. Sweatshirts in the evenings. Light duvets on the beds. And all the music schools and church clubs and so on get started once more.

I suppose November is transition month, but we've missed that, being in Singapore. So now it feels distinctly chilly. We need to take our winter clothes out of the extra storage closet, and pack away the summer ones. We need to think about Christmas cards and a family newsletter. We need to think about Christmas presents, and Christmas lunch. I realised this when Tim (being our resident true Anglican) told me that next Sunday is the first in Advent, meaning that yesterday was Stir-up Sunday. I don't even know if the 'stir-up' collect is still used, but it's a good day to make Christmas cake and puddings, and mincemeat. That is, if you've bought the ingredients in the previous week, knowing that Advent is approaching fast...

On Saturday afternoon I was too tired to think about anything much. Yesterday I was so glad to feel human again, I caught up with hundreds of emails and overdue blog posts. We felt a bit cold in the evening, but just turned on the portable halogen heater which we had dug out for our cat-minding house-sitting friend while we were away, as she feels the cold quite a lot.

Today we realised we need to get in touch with the guy who owned this house before us, as he said he would show Richard how to service the central heating. Yes, we have central heating, with English-style radiators in every room. But of course the boiler needs servicing before we can switch it on, and Richard has no idea how to do that yet. So he texted, and the guy phoned back and will come over this evening. Perhaps we can be warm during the winter!

And I suppose I should pop round the corner to the very local supermarket to buy large quantities of raisins and sultanas and suet and so on, and get started with the Christmas baking.

But I probably won't until the end of the week.

Back in Cyprus

The flight to Bahrain was eight hours, followed by a four hour wait at Bahrain Airport - which somehow looked rather grubby after Singaore, despite being one of the cleanest ones we had previously seen! Then our last bit of the journey, a three-and-a-half hour flight back to Larnaka.

Having claimed tax back in Singapore, Richard knew he should declare the unused equipment we had bought, mainly a computer for the office, and a couple of other items. I don't think Cyprus customs officials expect people to declare things, and they always seem to charge us far less than we expect. Certainly we had to pay less than we received back in tax in Singapore!

So, here we are, home again. The cats were pleased to see us, and it was good to sleep in our own beds again after a very, very long night where we gained six hours in time while getting very little sleep. Larnaka is distinctly colder than it was, but the sun has been shining and the sky is blue... we had almost forgotten what a blue sky looked like while in Singapore! We took sunscreen with us but didn't use it at all...

I am also very thankful for our broadband internet, which has enabled me to upload all the photos which I couldn't do at MacDonald's in Singapore.

We miss Daniel of course, but it was great to see how well he's getting on, and how right it seems for him despite his frequent tiredness!

Dry dock preparations, and leaving Singapore

On Friday the Doulos sailed to the dry dock berth, around the West of Singapore. It was a three-hour sail, so Dan was involved in 'mooring stations' and also carefully checking the water tank levels, as they have to be the same when they finish the dry dock. I hadn't much idea what dry dock involved, so it was interesting to see: they sailed to the top of a kind of floating platform, which had blocks prepared to hold the Doulos. Then air was pumped into the platform, raising it all above water level. The really scary thing, from my perspective, was that the only way out of the ship was along a precarious looking bridge that looked down a LONG way to the bottom of the ship. There's a safety net below but that didn't really encourage me...


Meanwhile teams had been preparing the ship for the internal work (and grubby footprints of those working outside), covering all the carpets with lining paper and parcel tape, and then with boards.


It was pretty confusing for someone locationally challenged like myself, since pictures were taken from walls and all my landmarks for finding my way around vanished. The book exhibition on the top deck was completely packed away, and turned into an eating area since the generators aren't used in dry dock, so there's no air conditioning inside the ship.

About 150 of the Doulos crew (mostly girls) have gone onto the island or other nearby countries to do various work with local groups - some teaching, some aid - and the mothers with small children have gone to a holiday resort for a break. That means there are only about 150 people left on the ship, and they're working 12-hour days, from 7am to 7pm, which of course is daylight hours all round so near the Equator.

Daniel managed to find some dark blue coveralls that have been in the store for a while, since his light blue ones were soaking wet (it rained during sailing...) and hopes they can become the Watermen uniform:


All good things come to an end, and we had to leave that evening. Our flight wasn't till 5am Saturday morning, but we knew Daniel would stay up until we left, and we didn't him up half the night even though there were many things we would still like to have done together. Moreover, we weren't sure how long it would take to get to the airport, and we had various tax rebates to claim on the technology items we had bought. Oh, and taxi fares have an extra 50% surcharge after midnight.. and just to add to our worries, we were told that officially the port gates closed at 10pm, although nobody really believed that.

So we actually left the ship shortly before 11pm. It was as frightening as I had expected walking across that bridge, but I gritted my teeth and did not look down. I didn't even try to carry one of the suitcases! Nor did I do so on the rest of the journey to the port gate, which was almost as terrifying: along a wet, greasy platform with hose pipes in the way, then down some steep metal stairs where again it would have been disastrous to look down. I just held on to every railing I could see, and went one step at a time... not an experience I would like to repeat!

The Doulos looked pretty amazing, lit up in the dry dock:


Dan came with us as far as the gate, then we watched him back on the ship as Richard went to fetch the fourth of our heavy cases and repeated the journey down. Thankfully he doesn't mind heights nearly as much as I do. After that it was all fairly straightforward: there were guards on the port gate, so we signed out, and they booked us a taxi which arrived within a few minutes. It was a 45 minute journey and we had to pay the extra booking fee, so the fare was fairly steep... but still far less than it would have been in Europe. It was midnight by the time we got to Singapore airport which, of course, is very efficient and sparklingly clean.

Last few days on the Doulos

After Dan's half-day off when we went to Sentosa, he had more lifeboat training, including one day when it poured with rain. They had put the canvas covers up but unfortunately they weren't waterproof. However he assured us it was a lot of fun.


Richard says he will never again complain that England is a wet country... Singapore is far, far wetter!

On Thursday night, the last evening at the Cruise Centre berth, we caught the MRT (underground train, like the London Underground but far cleaner and more efficient... like most things in Singapore!) to Little India, Dan's favourite place, and ate at the vegetarian restaurant we had been to twice before, the excellent and inexpensive Komala Vilas which was recommended by someone Richard and Tim met.


We had chapati plates, a filling meal with three types of vegetable sauce, chapatis and popadums, and drinks - and the whole thing came to 24 Singapore dollars, which is roughly the equivalent of two pounds sterling per person!

Sentosa Island

After the Doulos had moved to the new port, and Dan had loaded some water, checked levels etc, he was able to take the afternoon off so we decided to visit the island of Sentosa, which is only a few hundred metres from the harbour. This entire small island is dedicated to leisure - like a kind of theme park all over. Dan and Richard decided to take the cable cars over the harbour, but Tim and I aren't keen on heights, so we opted for the less exciting but slightly quicker shuttle bus over a bridge.

There's a very small fee to enter Sentosa, then varying amounts to be paid for the various attractions, most of which didn't really appeal to us anyway. However Daniel and Richard decided to try out the 'luge' - a kind of small car that they could drive down a longish track, while Tim and I watched.


Tim was intrigued by a road sign he had never seen before:


And I was amused by the mixture of pleasant scenery and odd plastic models like this one:


The fee for the luge included a return on an open 'air ride' - like a ski-lift cable car. As we were waiting for them to return, lightning flashed across the sky and the air ride came to a halt. We watched as staff started rushing around doing things in the controls, assuming it would get going again soon.

Unfortunately it started to rain. Drizzle for a minute or two, then the heavens opened... as is wont to happen in Singapore. And the staff all rushed for shelter! So there they were, along with all the other people returning from the luge, getting totally drenched. The ride must have been stopped for about twenty minutes... they were NOT happy. But at least they found it amusing when, as they finally alighted from the ride when it was fixed, a member of staff offered them free disposable raincoats! Dan took one.. then persuaded me to wear it, since he and Richard were already wet and I wasn't. Not the most flattering of garments, and when Dan took this photograph it was a distinctly unflattering viewpoint. He called it a 'cloud's eye view':


In Singapore you don't shout and gesture (as would happen in Cyprus) about this kind of thing (the stopped ride, not me in the raincoat!) - you just grit your teeth and smile. But they did get offered free tee-shirts. That would have been great if they'd been available at the luge office; unfortunately we had to go to the bottom of the luge to the office there, and didn't actually find it for some hours. But Richard and Dan did both get free tee-shirts, each of them worth more than twice the cost of the ride, so I suppose they won in the end. And as the temperature is about 30C they didn't freeze or get hypothermia, even though they were shivering at first after their drenching.

We caught the (free) bus to another area of Sentosa, by the beach. And saw a real peacock. Or, to be technically accurate, a peahen:


The beach is all imported sand, apparently, and the water isn't really safe to swim in, but it's still rather attractive. It would have been lovely on a sunny day, but in continued rain it was deserted and a bit sad.


We checked our various guides and opted for a recommended place to eat, which turned out to be empty (so they must have been pleased we ventured as far as we did to find them) and not as pleasant as we'd have liked, since there was continual loud metallic music being played. But the food wasn't bad, although probably the most expensive we ate in our entire trip to Singapore.


Our Lonely Planet Guide told us it was well worth visiting the free 'magical musical fountain' in the evening, so after we'd eaten we got on another shuttle bus and sat in a huge amphitheatre along with a surprisingly large number of other people (given the bad weather). Thankfully it had stopped raining by then. The show started exactly on time (a shock for us, more used to the almost infinitely variable Cyprus time) and was a fairly impressive mixture of music, lights and laser images. Rather too Hollywood for our liking, more for children than adults, but still worth seeing. Although photos didn't really work well and don't begin to give an impression of what it was really like.




Daniel was supposed to be back at the Doulos by 9pm, as passports had to be returned for extensions of their visas, so we left just before the end of the show, and all got on the shuttle bus to return to the main island.

Days on the Doulos

Once we had returned from our break, Daniel was pretty busy, partly with his general waterman work, but mostly because he was involved in two types of training: one to pass his 'efficient deck-hand' qualification, and one to train as cox-swain for the lifeboats. That meant we got evenings together, but not so much time during the day - although the first course had a couple of much shorter days, as the people involved were all fairly knowledgeable. There was a written test at the end, with a pass mark of 70%, and Dan said he got about 97% so we were most impressed.

The really good thing about the Vivo Centre port was that we could pop off and on the ship whenever we liked, directly into the mall or elsewhere. It was good from the ship's point of view too, since it was a brand new mall with thousands of visitors, many of whom decided to see the Doulos too. Singapore's newest shopping centre right next to the world's oldest passenger ship... a good combination. On the last day at the berth, there were apparently about 20,000 visitors.

One evening we took Dan and his colleague Stéphane, the senior waterman out for ice creams, and ended up at the highly priced but excellent Haagen-Daaz shop, where we could choose from a wide variety of ice creams and toppings. There were even some sorbets, so Tim could have a dairy-free version. We only went there once - other ice-creams were a lot less expensive on other days! - but it was fun as a treat.


The top of the mall had an open deck, with a paddling pool, plants, wooden floorboards, and curvy structures. All built according to the latest feng shui principles, no doubt, and very attractive too. We liked looking down at the Doulos in her dress lights at night. Although as we watched there were a couple of power cuts!


Another day we bought a dragonfruit, something Dan described beforehand as a cross between apetunia and a pineapple:


- inside the consistency is a bit like soft pears, or kiwi fruit with black seeds. Refreshing, though a bit bland. But pleasant enough - and much nicer than most tropical fruits, in my opinion!


During the daytimes we read, or went out, although I gave up trying to upload photos or blogging as the connection at McDonald's was too slow and we were only allowed half an hour at a time. It was nice to relax and do very little, at least in my opinion!

On Monday 20th November, the book exhibition was closed and the Doulos moved to another port, the Cruise Centre berth - not far away, but with no easy access. To get off and on the ship in this place, we had to go through a long corridor rather like an airport terminal, and through extensive security - bags scanned, passports and Doulos passes checked each time. I gather this was still much easier for the Doulos folk than many of the ports they had visited!

Tuesday - return to the Doulos

On Tuesday we had to check out of Perak Lodge Hotel by 10am, but they have a great service where they will store luggage free for one day, so we booked most of it into their secure room. All in all, we were very impressed with this place!


Then we walked first to the SimLim Tower plaza which has four storeys, entirely of technology shops! A geek's paradise, as the Lonely Planet Guide informed us.


Richard and Tim had been here before, and I was glad I didn't go with them. There wasn't even anywhere to sit! Nonetheless, the prices were good, the selection unbelievable. We did some shopping Dan needed - upgraded memory for his mac, in particular, and a large pack of inexpensive CDs. And various other things.

We did sit at the food centre downstairs eventually and had some fresh pineapple juice, then I stayed there while the rest of them went and looked at yet more technology. Then we had Korean food for lunch at this food centre, spicy but more soya sauce flavoured than the Indian food we had been eating.


Daniel then thought we ought to try out an 'ais kechang'- a dessert he had eaten elsewhere in Asia before coming to Singapore. It definitely looked impressive, being a strange mixture of ice, jellies, beans, syrups, and some rather dubious colourings. We all had a few mouthfuls but Dan had to finish it...


In the afternoon we walked a few hundred metres to the Tekka Centre, a seven-storey mall although only about four have shops as yet, but it includes an inexpensive clothes store which takes up an entire storey, where we previously managed to find some trousers with small enough waist for Tim. We were able to buy various clothes for Dan there. Not very exciting, but necessary. Late afternoon, we collected our baggage from the hotel and returned to the Doulos by about 5pm, in time for the evening meal which was prepared by local people, and very good.

So here we are, sitting at McDonald's using their wireless internet. It's rather slow, and photos refuse to upload, though I hope to add them later...

Monday - Singapore Botanical Gardens

On Monday we were able to book for a third night into the Perak Lodge Hotel, although the boys had to move to a different room - it was a three-bed room, with mattresses on a sort of ledge rather than regular beds, bigger than their previous one.

We decided not to do any shopping - difficult in Singapore, but three of us (ie all except Richard) had had quite enough of malls. Dan suggested we stay in during the morning, which turned out to be an excellent plan since it bucketed down with rain for a couple of hours, at least. We used the hotel's wireless internet so he could download various updates he needed and find some articles he wanted to read. We also read, and talked... it was so good to be together again!

We found a Subway for lunch, then walked to the Botanical Gardens.


These are huge, free, and very impressive.

It was unfortunately rather over-humid after so much rain,

but we enjoyed seeing the plants, including a bonsai section



and a pond with lilies and terrapins.


We sat on the grass (mostly dry) and read before finding a taxi to take us back to the hotel, then out for yet another inexpensive Indian veggie meal. Three evenings of spicy food in a row was about enough for me, though!

Sunday in Singapore - river cruise

We looked at masses of tourist guides - there's so much that can be done in Singapore, and we'd been recommended the Night Safari tour. But Dan wasn't particularly keen, and we were all tired, so we decided not to do that. Another recommended tourist trip is to take a ' bumboat' along the river, so we thought we'd try that. So on Sunday morning we walked probably a couple of miles - via various malls and exhibitions that distracted us temporarily


- to the Singapore river, and boarded a bumboat.




The trip was supposed to be half an hour, pointing out sights of interest, but what we didn't know was that it was the day of the annual Singapore regatta, so there were several teams of rowing boats preparing for races. Several times we had to wait, while a race started, and we got a premium viewpoint of the rowing boats! Our pilot wasn't terribly impressed, since our trip ended up lasting about an hour, meaning loss of other customers.



We found some fast food (Taco Bell - an American chain that we haven't seen anywhere outside the US before now) for lunch, after much wandering around the banking district. Then we went to the Wheelock Plaza and Borders bookshop, so Dan could wander around and see books other than those on the Doulos! He bought a couple of books, and we then took him to the secondhand bookshop we had previously found in the Far East Plaza, and he found three more that he liked. Then we returned to the hotel, relaxed for a while, and then out to eat at another recommended Indian veggie restaurant. Not quite as good as the previous night, but still not bad, and pretty inexpensive.

The district of Little India was crowded - Sunday is a day off for some people, but shops are open until late every night, and I don't think I've ever seen so many people walking up and down the streets, even during a festival in Cyprus. Richard assures me it's nothing like as crowded or noisy as Cairo, though!

The Doulos has arrived, the family is whole again!

We thought we might get to the harbour in time to see the MV Doulos arrive on Thursday, but in the event she sailed in before 9am and we didn't get there till nearer 10am. It would have been a lot of effort to have got up earlier, particularly for Richard, and as it was we didn't eat breakfast at the hotel before checking out, just had a quick coffee. The taxi driver didn't know where Vivo Centre was; it turned out to be a bit of the harbour right behind a brand new mall called Vivo Centre. We would not have thought Singapore would need yet more malls - there are hundreds! - but this one opened just a few weeks ago, so it looks even more clean and sparkling than all the other ones we've visited. The only sad thing about it is a rather tacky plastic 'snowman' sitting outside - yes, Christmas decorations are here already, including some featuring snow, in a country where the tenperature never gets below 20C.

It's a great port from the access point of view - just literally a few yards across the paving outside the mall sits the Doulos.


Importantly for Tim and me, there was a little cafe selling muffins and smoothies so we sat and had some breakfast while Richard went to look for Dan. He didn't have too much work that day, once they had berthed and checked the water, so he was able to show us around and spend time talking, which was great.


In between times we looked at the next-door Habour mall which had a McDonalds with free wireless networking.


There were also several other unsecured networks available. However as we've now learned that it's technically illegal to access another network, even if unsecured and doing nothing immoral, we prefer to use those we're officially allowed to use. There was a news article in a local newspaper yesterday about a 17-year-old Singaporean who has been arrested for unauthorised use of somebody's unsecured network. Apparently he's liable for a hefty fine and a jail sentence as well, which seems a bit extreme.

Richard and I have been given a very nice cabin, with a bed that folds away to make a sofa, coffee-making facilities, a fridge, a small shower-room, and a comfortable chair and cupboards. Almost like a small hotel room, and much bigger than we had expected. Tim's in one of the tiny cabins which has bunk beds and almost nothing more, sharing with other short-term visitors (one at a time of course!).

Food on the Doulos is much, much better than it used to be with plenty of salads and a fair amount of fruit too. Dan is very busy in his job as 'waterman' which involves a great deal more than just being responsible for the water - he also mends shoes, makes keys, and fulfils various other roles.


Every morning he has to take soundings in the water tanks, and yesterday he had an unexpected request to empty two tanks so they can be cleaned, which turned out to be quite a logic problem, and very time-consuming.

He has been able to take three days of break, having worked long hours for the last few weeks, and was keen to spend at least a couple of nights off the Doulos if possible so he wouldn't get paged at midnight for some emergency, as often happens apparently. We weren't sure if we could find anywhere at short notice (he couldn't confirm his leave dates until Friday) but having consulted our Lonely Planet guide and made a few phone calls, we were able to book a couple of nights into the Perak Lodge Hotel at the outskirts of Little India - slightly less expensive than Sloane Court, since an excellent cold breakfast is included, and rather more upmarket. The only slight disadvantage is that the rooms are smaller, though very comfortable (and equipped with coffee-making facilities and fridges). Oh, and there's free wireless internet in the rooms, as well as papers and even a few novels available to be borrowed.

Singapore: Sloane Court Hotel

Today we didn't plan to do much. However Richard and Tim did want to look at the Behringer showroom which was apparently about 10km away. And Richard wanted a razor adapter. Neither of these sound very interesting, and I seem to be starting the cold which Tim has been suffering from for the past week, so I suggested I stay at the hotel while they went out. They even left Tim's mobile phone behind so they could send a text message if they were going to be out longer than expected although they thought they would probably be home by lunch-time.

So I had a lazy morning, and around 12.45 received a text message telling me they were going to eat out, so I should eat at the hotel. I don't think I've ever been in a restaurant on my own before, but I had to eat... so I went down and had a very good omelette, chips and salad. And coffee, very important. Much better than the breakfasts. In the morning I thought I would try the advertised ' continental breakfast', but it turned out to be nothing but toast and marmalade! With coffee, and I suppose the price wasn't bad, but even so... quite a disappointment. And not what continental Europeans eat at all!

Then I came back to the room to read and had a lazy afternoon, with more text messages arriving although as I do NOT understand mobile phones (and Tim had only told me how to read one) I didn't manage to get to them all, and accidentally sent a blank message back to Richard, apparently. It seems they didn't find the Behringer store at all, but did find another very good musical shop with lots of guitars, and various other places that interested Richard but would have rather bored me - I've had more than enough shops in the last few days! Moreover they walked there, and walked back... even though they had planned to take the MRT. We think they must have walked at least 20km today. By the time they were back they were pretty tired, so we decided on our last evening at this hotel we would eat in the restaurant. Tim didn't think he could take Chinese food again, and we had very hot Indian food last night, so we settled for basic English food, which is what is served in this hotel.

It means I haven't been out all day, but with a streaming cold that's not such a bad thing. I very much appreciate the size of the bedrooms, including two comfortable chairs and a desk. Yes, it all looks a bit old-fashioned and decidedly shabby in places, with a bathroom that looks as if it came from the 1940s, but the food was good (other than that so-called continental breakfast!) and the service in the restaurant excellent. The prices were similar to what we paid last night at the Banana Leaf Apolo, partly because we didn't need to order any drinks - the waiters poured us drinking water, and topped up at regular intervals.

The Doulos is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning at 9am so we'll be checking out fairly early. If we're up in time, anyway. So here are a few photos of the Sloane Court Hotel - which, on the whole, is pretty good value for money.


The dining room, looking quite nice before the evening meal:


Upstairs corridor - Tim's room was at the far end:


Our bedroom in the morning, before the bed was remade with freshly ironed top sheet:


The other part of our bedroom with the comfortable chairs:

Singapore - exploring a bit more

Yesterday we all felt a bit more awake than we did on Monday. Richard never eats breakfast anyway but Tim and I went to the hotel restaurant where they advertised set breakfasts for $7.80 (Singapore dollars - so that's about £2.60 Cyprus pounds or $5 US). Tim ordered bacon and eggs, I ordered scrambled eggs on toast. They came with a glass of fresh orange juice, coffee, and two extra pieces of toast with butter and marmalade. Tim doesn't drink coffee so they gave him a larger glass of juice. Not too bad, we thought... although the actual bill was a bit higher due to the various taxes that get added on. The coffee was good anyway and much appreciated!

By the time we were ready to go out it was nearly noon. We had decided after much discussion that we would buy a Canon video camera, something we had considered for a while, with some of our money from last Christmas. We were quoted an excellent price on Monday from one of the many shops stocking these. So we walked to the Far East centre in the Orchard Road shopping precinct, and went straight there. Unfortunately there was a different salesman, and he said that we were quoted an incorrect price... and that the actual one was a lot higher. More, in fact, than we would pay to buy the same camera from Amazon UK.

So we went into yet another shop, and there was a very friendly salesman - Chinese, but behaved much like a Cypriot, so we felt quite at home! He gave us a good price, then tried to sell us various other bits and pieces such as a long-life battery and a wide-angle lens. We weren't sure about the battery but he said that if we bought it we would get a free padded camera case, and as we wanted one of those it was worth getting the battery! However we really didn't want a wide-angle lens. Once we convinced him of that, he shrugged and smiled and said he had to try anyway! Then he threw in three free mini DV tapes. He also treated us to some coffee, although it was sweetened. But as it was so strong, that was probably just as well. It seems that they use either evaporated or condensed milk in coffee here, and if it's the latter then it will be sweet even if they don't add any sugar.

Then, not feeling very adventurous, we had lunch at Subway once again. And wandered around a bit more before deciding to visit a mall further away where there was a music shop Tim wanted to see. It was about 4km away and the weather was threatening, so we caught the excellent MRT (Mass Rail Transit - like a more efficient and very clean version of the London Underground) to the nearest station, 2km away from the mall, and (as it then started to pour with rain) a taxi to the mall itself. We could perhaps have used buses but haven't been able to find a bus map and could easily have got lost. What's more, with three of us, taxis work out very reasonable. The MRT cost us $1 each, the taxi cost us $3.20 (about one Cyprus pound!) ... and since the highest charge is for the first kilometre, it would probably have been significantly less than $6.20 to get a taxi all the way. Still, it was interesting to try the MRT at least once. Public transport is excellent in Singapore, or so it seems. We did think about renting a car but rental costs are very high, not to mention insurance, petrol, parking fees and the likelihood of getting lost. We could take about 20 short taxi rides in a day for less than the cost of renting a car!

The mall contained two music shops, also a big discount bookstall which we enjoyed browsing, and a drinks bar where we could sit as long as we wanted. Lots of teenagers seemed to be doing homework there, it was interesting watching people coming and going. We stayed there till after 5pm then Tim said he'd like Indian food so we consulted our 'Lonely Planet' guide and decided to visit the area called 'Little India'. As it was raining, yet again, we opted once more for a taxi. It was quite a distance and as there's a slightly higher rate during peak traffic hours, we paid just over $9... but even that's less than three Cyprus pounds. It seems odd to be using so many taxis but they're very efficient and such good value. And the drivers are so silent, such a contrast to those in Cyprus or the UK.

There was nearly a disaster when we got out of the taxi and realised that Tim had managed to drop his mobile phone inside. But Richard used his mobile to phone Tim's number, and the driver answered after several rings... so we told him what had happened and he said he would bring it back to the place where he had dropped us. And, indeed, he did just that. We gave him a tip of course - tipping isn't normal in Singapore, but bringing back a phone was well above the call of duty! We were most impressed. And relieved.

We were right by a mall called Tekka, which didn't seem particularly Indian but had an entire floor devoted to inexpensive clothes that looked reasonable quality. And they had trousers in Tim's waist size, which is two inches less than the smallest available in Cyprus! So we found him three pairs: jeans, casual beige trousers, and smartish black ones. And some trousers for Richard, and a handbag for me... the whole lot came to the equivalent of about £25 Cyprus pounds. Unbelievable.

Then we wandered into the Little India district, which looked very different from the consumerist and well-organised Orchard Road district. We haven't been to India, but the streets looked very like pictures we've seen of Indian towns, with higgledy-piggledy shops selling all kinds of vegetables, spices, silky clothes, artwork and more. We saw several people riding bikes, for the first time since arriving here, and half expected to see a rickshaw coming down the street! There were many Indian restaurants and takeaway places and we could have stopped at any of them - Singapore has high standards of cleanliness and hygiene, and no doubt they are all quite safe. But we were intrigued by one we had read about, the ' Banana Leaf Apolo', where food is eaten not from plates but from large banana leaves. So we found our way there, and it was packed with both locals and tourists, though the Singaporeans were mostly Chinese rather than Indian.



The food was good though rather hotter than I like, and plenty of it. We had to order extra fruit drinks as the curry and tikka masala were so hot, and even so the total bill came to less than we paid the day before at the Newton Hawker Centre.



Richard wanted to walk further into Little India to find the Arab quarters, but Tim and I were tired - Richard gets more awake during the evenings while we start to wind down - so eventually we caught yet another taxi and came right back to the hotel, again for not much more than a single Cyprus pound.

Singapore first day

We got to Singapore's airport at about 10am local time. I think I managed about 4 hours' sleep on the plane, and was pleased that a light breakfast including coffee was offered, meaning I was only about half asleep when we landed.

A fast, efficient and very clean airport. We had to fill in immigration slips then our visas were issued free with no problems. Luggage came around the conveyer belt as we arrived to claim it, and we were waved through the green channel. Richard exchanged some American dollars into Singapore's currency (also dollars) since we hadn't been able to get them in Cyprus. One Singapore dollar is worth about 65 American cents, or a little over 30 Cyprus cents. It makes conversion easy in our heads - just divide Singdollars by three to get the price in Cyprus pounds.

Taxis were waiting outside, no clamouring for custom. We got in the first one and were driven efficiently to the Sloane Court Hotel where we had booked for a couple of days. The driver was silent - very different from the chatty and inquisitive Cyprus taxi drivers who have driven us from Larnaka airport - and in my half-awake state I was quite glad of that. My first impression of Singapore was surprise at how green it was - nothing like hot Middle Eastern countries, or even Cyprus. But then it gets rain all the year round. Beside the highway were trees of a wide variety, some recognisable from Cyprus, some looking like British trees. And some which I can only describe as full-sized bonsai trees! That distinctive shape must be some kind of standard Asian tree, rather than the result of breeding in a tiny pot.

The hotel was, as described in the 'Lonely Planet' guide, mock Tudor. Fake panels, and a sort of clean shabbiness. Richard had booked it after much research online, to find somewhere affordable but not in the red light district. The rooms are larger than expected, the bathroooms old-fashioned but, as everything else, very clean. We managed to sleep for an hour or so before being awoken by loud claps of thunder followed by torrential rain. Good thing we brought our kagoules!

When the rain eased a little we set out to walk to the Orchard Road area where there are all the shops and restaurants anyone could want. Along the way were high-rise flats - no houses at all, as far as we could see, but the flats weren't too close to each other, and were less ugly than those in our home town of Birmingham. And very clean...

After a detour in the wrong direction, courtesy of Tim's map-reading skills, we found the mall centre of the island. All air conditioned, busy, full of interesting and not-so-interesting shops, and (you guessed it) clean. Singapore has strict laws governing littering, and it works. Even the open drains next to the roads contain only water and fallen leaves from the many trees. We saw several cleaners while shopping, even though the floors looked almost spotless.

It was 2pm by the time we got to the malls, and although our stomachs were a bit confused by the time change (it's 5 hours ahead of Cyprus during winter time) we were hungry. So we didn't do anything adventurous. When we saw an American-style Subway selling good quality sandwiches, we stopped there for lunch and coffee.

Then we spent a couple of hours looking around two of the malls, something Richard always enjoys and even Tim and I didn't mind as there was so much to see. We found the Apple centre, which Tim wanted to see, and he found - as he expected - very good value iPods, on a special offer. So he did as planned and spent some of his recent birthday money on buying one. We found a second-hand bookshop as well, highly disorganised but some good bargains. We were restrained and only bought three books but might return at some point.

By 5pm we were even more tired, but decided to return to the hotel even though its restaurant isn't open on Mondays so we knew we'd have to go out again to eat in the evening. Without getting lost, it was about a 20 minute walk from the Orchard Road malls. Despite the temperature outside being around 30C, I was fine as the sky was overcast and there was occasional drizzle. No fear of sunburn or sunstroke!

After some discussion we managed to book a couple of extra days at this hotel, since it does seem to be the best value for money around. The Doulos arrives on Thursday, and we'll be staying on board from then. We hope it arrives on time, anyway, since this hotel is pretty busy and we almost certainly wouldn't be able to book another night at short notice. Richard asked the staff if there was anywhere nearer than Orchard Road to buy a meal, and they suggested the Newton Hawker Centre. Our 'Lonely Planet' guide told us that hawkers used to be people who took food stalls around the streets (as we see in Cyprus, perhaps) but that's too untidy for modern Singapore, so they're now organised in one place. Customers sit at tables in the centre then go around and buy whatever they want from the various stalls.


We ordered some fresh pineapple juice (excellent!) and also some Chinese food - a sort of spinach (or maybe vine leaf) salad, some noodles, and a couple of chicken dishes. They came in small, medium or large sizes and we asked for medium... which turned out to be a lot more than we could eat, so we could have had small. Still, the entire thing including drinks came to 50 Singapore dollars, which is around £16 Cyprus pounds (or 33 American dollars) so although not cheap, it wasn't bad value.


Oh, and we're not sitting in McDonald's using their free wireless networking. Ahem. This hotel doesn't offer free Internet access, but last night when Richard switched on his Mac notebook, it told him there was an unsecured network available if he wanted to use it. Since it doesn't cost anyone anything, and we're only checking email (and me blogging) he figured that if they haven't bothered to secure it, they shouldn't mind who uses it.

Unexpected day in Bahrain

So we got to Larnaka airport at 1430 on Saturday as we were told. And the flight was delayed even more than it should have been... rather a grotty old aeroplane too, but it got us there safely despite a rather turbulent take-off and very sharp descent which gave me the most awful earache.

The hotel which Gulf Air put us up in was rather magnificent, however. The Crown Plaza which is a five star luxury hotel. Huge rooms, and enormous beds. Ours would comfortably have taken three people... Tim's 'single' room appeared to have two double beds!



The food was good too, again all paid for by Gulf Air. Buffet style, mainly Indian, with a huge variety. Only problem was that we had to pay for any drinks - and a bottle of water, the 1.5 litre size which costs 40c or so in Cyprus, was charged at the equivalent of over three Cyprus pounds!

Bahrain is hot and humid even in November. It felt somehow much the same as Oman and Saudi Arabia, two other Gulf states I've been to, and as the sun was shining I had no wish to go out. Richard and Tim took a short walk in the morning, hoping to find a mall but it turned out to be a mobile phone mall.. so I was glad I didn't go. I stayed in the room, reading and relaxing and recovering from the flight.

A taxi arrived for us and other passengers in the same boat around 6pm and took us to the airport. A very efficient airport with the only problem being that smoking is still allowed, and although there are some non-smoking zones they're not much use if there are smokers just a few metres away.

There were more delays, meaning we finally boarded the plane around 9pm and took off around 10pm, two hours later than it was supposed to be.

Leaving soon

Our flight was supposed to leave Larnaka at 15.10 but I had a phone call from Gulf Air this morning saying that it had been delayed by a couple of hours. That means we miss our connection at Bahrain, where we had only an hour's wait. So they've booked us into a hotel overnight, and we will fly to Singapore the following day.

OK... they seem to be efficient, and I'm glad they let us know in plenty of time rather than when we got to the airport. The MV Doulos won't be arriving until Thursday anyway, so we won't lose a day with Daniel. On the other hand, Richard had booked us into a hotel in Singapore from early Sunday morning, when we were supposed to arrive, and cancelling it within 24 hours means we're liable to pay for it. Fair enough... but we'll see if Gulf Air will take responsibility, which theoretically they should.

Amazingly we were all packed and ready by about noon. The lady who's house-sitting and looking after the cats was here shortly after 10am and we were able to have a leisurely lunch rather than rushing to be at the airport by 1pm. And now we still have another hour to wait before we check in. We're under-weight with our luggage and we're ready an hour early... unbelievable. A first on both counts!

I hope to be able to blog from Singapore, using Tim or Richard's notebook computers. But there's no guarantee.

Patience. An important virtue in Cyprus.

It's now four months since we bought the house we're living in. When we went to the municipal office to do all the final legal stuff, part of the process was deed transfer. We were told exactly when we could hand over our final cheque to the people selling the house, and also when we had to pay the tax for transferring deeds. Everyone had told us not to do the final payment to the vendors until we were at the deeds office, and it all worked well.

Then, at the end, one of the officials told us they would post us the deeds as they couldn't do the final transfer on the spot. We weren't sure why, as it's all computerised, but the house was legally ours so we didn't worry. We assumed the new deeds would arrive in a week or two.

They didn't.

By the end of July, we were a little puzzled, but as August is a holiday almost everywhere in Cyprus, we thought perhaps it would be done in September.

September passed. Most of October passed, and it occurred to us that we still didn't have the deeds. So Richard made a note on his organiser to phone our lawyer to find out if he knew when we should have them. Or what would happen if they had got lost in the post.

He was going to get around to it yesterday. Then on Thursday a large brown envelope was delivered to the mailbox outside the house. Inside were the deeds! A little crumpled, but fortunately I had rescued the envelope (which was sticking out of the box) before it rained.

And, Cyprus still, there were two sets of deeds. One in my name, and one in Richard's. Each of us legally owns half of the house.

Then there's the gas. The ovens are electric, but the hobs are gas, as is the central heating. There's a huge gas barrel outside, downstairs, and the vendor assured us that a truck would come by every two weeks to fill it up. So for our first fortnight in the house, I kept half an eye out for the truck, not sure what would happen. Nobody came.

Mid-August, another friend said that their house uses large barrels too, but that the truck doesn't come during the summer, as they use so little gas when the central heating isn't on. He said that he has to phone them to ask them to come when he wants them in the winter, and then they do come every two weeks.

Well we haven't wanted to use the central heating yet, but after four months I was beginning to wonder how long the gas would last. There's no dial to tell us it's nearly empty, and as we're going away I suggested Richard might phone the vendor and get the number, so we could have some more gas delivered.

He might have done that on Friday (though it wasn't urgent...) but at 7.30 Friday morning, a man arrived with a truck and asked if we wanted gas.. so I said yes, and he will now deliver it every two weeks.

So, as we're slowly learning, all we have to do - very often - is to wait.

Patience is a better word than procrastination, anyway.

Distance learning

Being a student is not like it was back in the old days when I was a student! No, we had to walk through wind and rain to sit in uncomfortable seats listening to variable quality lecturers...

We didn't even have cats in the lecture theatres.