Those of us who haven't headed on to further adventures are all safely back home (and have been for a week - this is a lot later than I'd intended!). First of all, let me give a big, heartfelt thank you to all who have been thinking and praying for us!! It's been appreciated, and necessary.
The three days we spent in Singapore (minus Anna W, Luke and Sarah J) were rockin and relaxing (not due to the the minus mentioned above - we missed you guys!!). We were staying at the YWCA which was very nice and in a primo location in Fort Canning. Needless to say 'that' song was in my head the whole time... sigh.
After Cambodia, Singapore seemed really really strange. Everything was so perfectly clean and tidy. I even remember asking Geoff if the leaves of the bushes along the road had been cut to the certain double pointed shape they all seemed to have. Correctly, Geoff said no (after giving me a funny look), but it wouldn't have surprised me if they had been - it's that kinda place. Very nice, but oddly jarring after the heady chaos of Phnom Penh.
Our first day, we decided to go and sample the delights of Sentosa island and hang out at a place called Siloso beach. Noisy parties of young holidaymakers (young whippersnappers, get off my lawn!) notwithstanding, we had a good time sleeping on the beach. I headed off to a wee island just off the coast which had some impressive looking rocks on it. (3 weeks without climbing, I needed even the glimmer of some bouldering potential). Wading off the shore, I discovered that the large rocks were actually hollow, fake rocks. Surreal, but in keeping with the created perfection of the Siloso resort. No bouldering here...sigh!
As the sun dropped below the skyline, Dave and the ladies trooped off in a taxi to take in the famed "Singapore Night Safari". This involves touring through a safari park in an electric tram with the animals separated from the punters by nothing more than a deep ditch - very cleverly concealed so that it looks like the animals are separated from the punters by, well, not very much really. An educational outing if you ever find yourself in SP with nothing to do at night.
The next day, we walked to Malaysia! Nothing like collecting stamps on the passport, although I don't really think I can say "I've been to Malaysia". More like, "I've been to a coffee shop in a shopping centre in Malaysia". Oh, and I succumbed to "travellers gloat" and bought a wallet pretty much so I could say it's from Malaysia. Silly me..! T'was quite hilarious walking back across the road bridge to Singapore next to a jammed up queue of lorries going through customs. All the drivers were honking at what I can only assume was a slightly incongruous looking troop of westerners wandering somewhat uncertainly through the no-mans land of the border crossing. On the way back to the Y-W-C-A (aargh, there it goes again!!!) we took the MRT, Singapore's equivalent of the tube. However, if you dropped your food on the floor of the MRT you could pick it up and carry on eating - after paying the $1000 fine for littering, and the $500 fine for eating on the MRT - no need for a 5-second rule here! Compared to this, the Glasgow tube is like a medieval wagon. With square wheels.
That's about all I can remember... perhaps other exciting things happened, but methinks those memories were washed away in the mind-numbing boredom of the flight home. However, I have a wee updated to my story. I have applied for a teaching job in Phnom Penh! Hopefully it will be accepted and my Cambodian adventures can continue (up until Christmas anyway). If anybody is actually reading this, I would be grateful if you could pray that practical things like accommodation work out, and that I'd stay safe on my own in PP for 4 months. I'm well excited about this - hope it works out to His plan!
Later folks,
Dave Thomson, Glasgow
