Doug and Kerry Hudson return to Singapore, South East Asia

World Trip >> Asia >> Singapore again

On our last morning in Malaysia, we were up fairly early, knowing we would have to pack our bags for the journey to Singapore. The bus journey to Singapore was fine, punctuated by the obligatory lunch stop but also by immigration stops to stamp out of Malaysia and back into Singapore.

We had phoned ahead to book a room at the Season Homestay, but when we got there, we found it to be a building site, with

power drills shrieking away,
dodgy-looking electrics dangling down from the ceiling, and
lots of dust.

Needless to say, it didn’t take us long to make our apologies and leave!

Doug navigated us past the Raffles Hotel to our second choice, the Shang Onn Hotel. When we got there, struggling under the weight of our packs and sweating in the equatorial heat and humidity, this one was completely boarded up, undergoing major renovation! So we trudged on to choice number three, the Lee Travellers’ Club. This was open, but proved to be an old office block converted into cheap accommodation. It was tatty and dirty, and the exposed springs of our bed’s mattress looked like they were going to inflict serious back injury.

We were so desperate by now, however, that we took it. We left our bags and headed out for dinner at Clarke Quay. We ate north Indian food at Moghul Mohal: mutton mosala, chicken masala, aloo gobi punjabi, naan bread and basmati rice. It was absolutely outstanding, a really divine meal.

Doug then said, "Here’s an idea. We’ve seen everything in Singapore already. We don’t need to be here tomorrow. Why don’t we move our flight a day earlier and leave tonight?"

It was an outrageous plan, but we made it so with a few phone calls. One ride later on the Mass Rapid Transit, Singapore’s highly efficient equivalent to the Underground, we were at Changi International Airport with all our bags, ready to check-in for our flight back to South Africa...

Once more we found ourselves at the tranquil indoor parkland that is Singapore’s Changi International Airport. While we awaited our flight, we sat by the orchid garden and rested, and then took advantage of the free Internet access to check emails. Before we knew it, we were on the plane and taking off for South Africa. Kerry hadn’t had time to get nervous, and she was actually very calm during take-off. Maybe the stress-free airport was a factor as well, plus the fact that it was 1:45AM when we took off so we were half asleep anyway. We took full advantage of the excellent in-flight entertainment; Doug watched three movies, while Kerry watched only one but played some Reversi as well. We must have dozed off at some point though, because it was soon time for breakfast. Kerry doesn’t often eat her aeroplane food, meaning Doug usually gets almost two portions, but this time he had to make do with just one as Kerry polished off everything!

Everything went smoothly. Lou and Rowley met us at Durban airport with a lovely welcome back to South Africa. It was a gorgeous, clear day of 33°C, with no trace of the humidity that we had suffered so much in south east Asia. Mishka and Jamie were equally delighted to see us, madly wagging their tails and trying to give us big licks.

That was the end of our travels. We then had just a week remaining in South Africa before we returned to the UK and normal life. Thankfully the UK was going into spring, so it wasn't be too cold for us. At least we had managed to avoid winter!

Click here to read our conclusions about our world trip, or here to find out what we consider to be our highlights from the year.

World Trip >> Asia >> Singapore again

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006