First taste of South East Asia

Well here we go, I've managed to find myself a computer modern enough in Vietnam to start writing our travel blog. First stop was Singapore, on the 28/11/07, for a couple of days. It's said that Singapore is the place to start in order to ease oneself into SE Asia culture. I'm uncertain what to make of that City/Country. It's a fusion of traditional Asia temples and Pagodas mixed with some colonial architecture and hyper modern skyscrapers. The place was not dissimilar to an ants' nest! Everything was very regimented and organized. The streets were pristine, the traffic flowed like in a dream, the people queued and walked in an organised manner... Very interesting if slightly surreal. The food was to die for, catering for tastes from around the world. Everything was there from Chinese to Indian to French to Argentinian... And of course it's also know as the shopper's paradise. There are shopping malls everywhere. I mean you can't walk along for more than 50 meters without encountering huge shopping malls! Not my cup of tea but Kiri’s eyes were wide open with envy when approaching all those designer and jewellery stores! We stayed in a 5 star hotel called the Swissotel The Stamford. Very posh one must say. It was only within our reach thanks to a promotion by Singapore Airlines with whom we were flying. We presided over Singapore from the 54th floor of this hotel, the tallest (so far) building on the Island. Needless to say that though one could become accustomed to such luxury, our wallets won't stretch for anything like that again any time soon! We ventured onto the Night Safari, where you are whizzed away on a tram to spy on the zoo's animals nocturnal activities. It was all very well done but our guide insisted on speaking or should I say whispering with the perviest of voices... Freaky quite honestly. Finally we headed back to Changi Airport for our plane to Hanoi. Like the city the airport was very well organised. Actually I'll even dare say that it was a rather pleasant experience transiting through that airport. So much more civilised than Heathrow or Stansted! JM