It Draws To A Close

24/01/11

So after a strange flight to Darwin involving a little more hang time in the air than expected (we had to wait for a cyclone to pass over Darwin!), I made it onto the connecting flight and into Singapore as scheduled. I don’t want to blog too much about my boring SG stuff as it was just much the same as previous visits i.e. sit down in the same (cool) hostel and email work and agents back and forth, but at least I had a chance to get quite a bit sorted out before going home. I’m now faced with a manic few days on return. I fly into Manchester, land and get through customs, do a few visits to potential houses I’ll live in, catch a train to Nottingham, allow 1 day for jet lag, pack the car up and return to Manchester. Pretty shitty eh?! I supposed deserved after blogging so many good times whilst others work away and pass time by thinking “What a b*&%£$d!” Well, it’ll be home-time soon enough and you can al tell me to F-right off in person then.

As for SG – well, it’s my ….. sixth visit I think; maybe seventh. I really should know my way around by now, so confidently, but foolishly I did not take a map! I got a little confused and a little bit lost, so Najiah came to meet me for lunch at a venue of my choice rather than one we’d penciled in. My phone playing up didn’t help the cause and I was almost an hour late. It was brilliant to catch up though and it must be pffft what the best part of a year now since I’d seen her, but we made plans to catch up later in the evening with my other friends in Singapore, now including my German friend, Andre, who I’ve seen in 8 countries and counting, Sarj, Mark, Shylla, and Abu, all of whom I’ve travelled and met up with heaps over the last two years. What a great time. Food a beer provided the needs for conversation, and it was much the same for the second night.

I once again got slightly confused and turned up late to meet Sarj for lunch, but in no way was I late for the evening! Wednesday night is key in Singapore as it is the only time you can drink in the bars for cheap! $20 entry into Insomnia for two hours of free-flow gave me enough time to get standardly/Britishly drunk! We had a great time, but I felt a touch concerned for Sarj who I’ve never seen so drunk hahaha – well, knowing her, no doubt she’d pull a sicky anyway.

[sic] Guys – I’ll be blogging all this fully, as per usual, when I get home, so keep an eye out in a week or two.

27/01/11

Slightly dazed I flew off from my penultimate destination the next day to Hong Kong. It was here my jaw dropped! The place had an uncanny resemblance to New York for me. Huge building squashed together on separate islands. It’s seemingly impossibly given the landscape and geography of the area, but somehow they’ve managed it, and managed it very well!

I’ve squashed in so much with my time here, but in general it’s all been the common touristy stuff. I’ve seen the Avenue of Stars and Symphony of Lights; I’ve gone up the funicular Peak Tram and been treated to the exceptional view of the city from Victoria Peak; I’ve explored Kowloon, Tsim Sha Tsui, and Central inside out; I’ve even been to Stanley Market and the southern beaches! I’ve been all over Lantau Island and knackered myself out climbing the incredibly masochistic peak before shying away from doing the rest of the Lantau Trail (I caught the Ngong Ping 360 to get up there and did the Po Lin and Tian Tan Buddha statue thing), but I have managed to avoid the likes of Disneyland and Ocean Park, but thankfully I still have a healthy four digits in the spending account, so I’m off to Macau to gamble, gamble, gamble! Viva Las Vegas for my last blow out!

I only have a couple more days to go now, so maybe I’ll squeeze in one more blog before I leave. I will put up some accompanying photos as well as the East Coast ones asap (this time out of pier pressure – Sarj bit me and Naj threatened me!).

Oh – I must say it really good to see Notts County take the game to Man City the other night. I thought they were a little bit unlucky to come away with a reply, but good to see Nottingham teams giving City a hard time still despite the gap. I guess the state of the pitch might have had a fair factor in the proceedings, so maybe the rugby team should get a shift on with their proposed move, though I quite like knowing Jacko is playing in a decent venue. I really should go watch him more, but rugby can never be a football substitute; the world agrees.