Our flight from Istanbul to Paris with Air France was 4 ½ hours
and then we had a two hour wait at Charles De Gaulle airport for our 12 hour
flight to Singapore. The Air France planes are old and bit dingy but the cabin
staff are lovely. One hour into the
flight I accidentally split my champagne onto Bella. We were both distressed: Bella because she
was wet, and me because I’d a. wet her and b. lost my French bubbles! Luckily the flight attendant provided another
blanket for Bella (her jeans were still a bit damp for another hour or so she
claims!) and another glass of bubbles for me.
We all tried to sleep as best we could.
I’d booked the bulk head seats for the long haul both ways and it gave
us a little more leg room but I dreamed about being in business or first class…
and being able to stretch out!
We landed at Singapore airport at 7pm, around midday Turkey
time. It’s the time differences that
make travelling challenging!! I’d booked
us a hostel in Singapore as it was only for one night, and accommodation in
Singapore is expensive. The Moni Gallery
Hostel is in Little India. The taxi
driver had no idea where it was but I had the address in my phone, and we were
able to find it. I’d booked a room with
a private bathroom but on check in was informed none of the rooms had a private
bathroom. We were too tired to
argue. Our room was about 3m x 2m with
no window, and contained three bunk beds (although the manager assured us
no-one else would be joining us); once our luggage was in the space between the
beds we didn’t have any room to walk!!
We went out to the nearby hawkers centre for some food. The TV screens set up around the eating area
were playing a video about peeing into the toilet bowl and flushing :”In a
rush, make sure you flush”! We thought
this was highly entertaining until we got back to the hostel and discovered
none of the other hostel guests had watched the video – the toilets had urine
everywhere. Yuck. Greg struggled to sleep but the rest of us
enjoyed being able to lie down flat and managed to sleep most of the night. The next morning Bella and I thought we’d
have a shower (to make use of the towels we’d rented for $2 Singapore
each!). There were three showers, two
cold and one hot, but the hot was either occupied by someone who was in there
for the long haul (but no water running!) – or else the management had locked
it from the outside! Despite being back
in the tropics both Bella and I found the cold, very cold!! We could have had
breakfast at the hostel – make your own peanut butter on toast – but after Greg
told us he’d killed a cockroach the size of a small kitten in the kitchen
making a coffee earlier, we opted to go back to the Hawkers market for paratha with
curry sauce, a great Little India breakfast!
Bella and I were determined to get our legs waxed after three months in
jeans and thermals, so set off down Seragoon Road to find the salon I’d
discovered on google. There were lots of
“massage” places around the hostel but they seemed to be offering a limited
range of services… designed for a certain clientele! Feeling much lighter, we re-joined the boys
and took a taxi back to the airport for our flight to Bali. This time we flew KLM and we were very
impressed! The regular economy had about
10cm more leg room than Air France (my knees didn’t hit the seat in front, even
when they reclined which is almost unheard of!) with great service – I’d definitely
fly them again.
We arrived into the new Bali airport and were through visa
and immigration in no time at all! What
an improvement! Then back to the Villa
Diana. Just like coming home – without the
cooking and cleaning part! It really is a nice place to stay, such friendly
staff, and big rooms with our own
bathrooms – no wee on the floor or seat!
Wonderful! So far in Bali we’ve
caught up with our friends Esther and Dean; my sister Suzy, her partner Ian and
son Hamish came over and joined us for a final eating and drinking frenzy; and
tomorrow I’m seeing Fiona and Peter, so it’s been a very social and relaxing
way to end our wonderful trip. At Esther
and Dean’s suggestion we went tubing, as opposed to rafting, and it was a lot
of fun. The much smaller tubes take you
through a river too narrow for rafts, so you get to see a different area of
Bali. We also had a further celebration
of Bella’s 16th at La Lucciola, complete with cocktails and Moet, so
she feels special J
The only disappointment from visiting Bali at this time of year is the rubbish
on the beaches. It’s really filthy. The beach workers all firmly believe the
rubbish is washed in from Java during the wet season but Greg thinks it’s the island’s
own rubbish, washed out of the rivers and creeks into the sea with the heavy
rain. Either way it’s not at all appealing to spend time down there or go for a
swim. I can’t tell you how much we are
enjoying not wearing much in the way of clothing. It’s so much more comfortable to loll around
in a sarong or shorts!
We are flying home on Sunday and back into the real
world. We have to clean and unpack the
house, and school starts for the kids on the 28th! Thanks for reading my blog, it’s been fun
sharing our trip with you J
PS – yes, the pics I’ve included on the blog are a very,
very, very small sample of the thousands of photos I took on this trip. I'm looking forward to re-living the memories
are I create my albums!
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