Singapore. Day 1

 Aargh. Trying to work out how to explain the day qwith my flight- and alcohol- addled brain.

So I suppose we're in transit. The route we're taking, through Singapore and Istanbul, is a bit slow and it will take us some time to reach Central Asia. Perhaps it's a reflection of modern life that I expect things to happen instantly an not to wait for them? Whatever the reason we're both on the holiday and still on the way to it.

We have just one flight under our belts so far. We are travelling with Lynn's friend, Lee-Anne, and she was at our place shortly after 6am for our 6.30 flight to the airport. Things were delayed almost immediately. These days you go through those body scanners, which scan you with radiowaves. Lynn had a number of suspicious spots on her scan. Don't ask me why. So they patted her and swabbed her, and she can back positive for nitro glycerin. Twice. Fortunately they didn't seem too fazed by this, it may happen frequently, and took her to the 'private room' for the full treatment, which she passed. Lynn reported afterwards that this was a bit anticlimactic and mostly involved checking the hems of her clothes. My opinion, based on very little evidence, is that she tends to use a lot of moisturiser and this contains glycerin. Admittedly this is the moisturiser she has used the last dozen times we've flown, but perhaps the scan was a random thing and the swabbing would show up the glycerins any time? We'll see on future flights.

Then a fairly unremarkable flight to Singapore. Too much food and drink, just to pass the time on a six-and-a-half hour flight, and little else to report. It was 34 degrees and humid when we landed 5500 km later, so we were definitelt over-dressed. But there were no queues and the standard polite and efficient processes through the airport and into the taxi.

We are staying on the edge of Chinatown in an Oasia hotel, the name reflecting the external greenery.,

After checking in we decided to venture out and see what we could in the remains of the afternoon. I had pre-purchased hop-on, hop-off bus tickets as this seemed an easy, low-stress way to get places. The closest bus stop was less than 10 minutes away. Of course with me navigating this took about 25 minutes. In my defence the map on the bus app was vague and imprecise and this area is all narrow lanes at odd angles. Lynn was as patient and forgiving as I would expect.

This turned out to be a fairly comfortable and easy orientation to the city. We did in a loop, and an hour and a half later we were back at our hotel.

We'd booked 'club' rooms, which we're familiar with from some other hotels. These generally have a lounge available, with cold drinks on tap. They include breakfast nd in the evenings free drinks and canapes or something equivalent. With a bit of commitment this replaces the need for an evening meal, so we went to the lounge on our return. The food selection was limited but passable and there was enough beer and spirits (a collection of bottles that you pour and mix yourself). So we worked through the selection and by the time it closed at 7.30 we'd had sufficient.

That's it, and enough after our early start and travelling. Now I'm typing while Lynn organises and re-packs for tomorrow. I can look out from our high-rise to a horizon of other high-rises.