Penultimate day

Posted on January 9, 2008 by Sam

We’re almost out of here, and you can tell that I’m running out of things to do because I’ve been researching tsunamis on the internet. Here’s a picture of the tsunami barrier that’s supposed to “save us”. Yeah, it’s that small reef-like structure to the left of the picture.

Chris is wanting to use the internet so I’ll have to finish my post later. There’s a Wildcats game on, so if he thinks he’ll be on for a long time, he’s sadly mistaken…

err… Wildcats lost, so less said about that the better. There were free cocktails later that night so you can be sure I took good advantage. Although when I have a few drinks, it doesn’t always end well for Chris – this time it was his lack of support in organising bushwalking excursions *lol* The term long suffering comes to mind.

I also found out that the water huts, where we are staying, were wiped out when the tsunami hit. Chris was trying to reassure me that we would be safest on the water! Thank goodness I found this out towards the end of my stay.

We’ll be leaving around 11.30 tonight, but won’t get back until 3.30 Friday. Next holiday looks to be New Zealand – but it is going to be an adventure one – just have to get in shape for it. Peru was on the cards – until I saw how expensive it is to get over there. I am, of course, working my way up to get to Europe… baby steps… 🙂

Not quite another day in paradise

Posted on January 8, 2008 by Sam

No, the honeymoon isn’t over, but the weather has turned from tropical paradise to tsunami stormy. Nice for staying huddled in a hut, but not so great for swimming. At least I won’t come back with sunburn! Down side is there is not much to do other than get on the internet (price has now gone to just $15 a day – woohoo!) and watch dvds. I’ve also found that drinking cocktails whiles away a fair bit of the evening 🙂 We went to the Lighthouse restaurant last night – this is not a restaurant we would be frequenting every night as it is the top end spot at the resort. Definitely a superior quality of canapes.

I’m still quite bemused at looking into the sea and seeing sharks swimming close by. We have a few little friends near us who always swim together and we’ve gotten quite used to seeing them as we go to breakfast. They’re black tipped sharks and I’ll try and get a picture when the weather clears up.

Idleness

Posted on January 7, 2008 by Sam

We might not have had internet access today, but by god, we did have satellite TV. How fortunate to be able to watch the final day of the test match. Unfortunately I fell asleep and missed out on the penultimate over victory. Oh well…

After a lazy morning doing pretty much nothing at all we picked up some snorkelling gear and planned on swimming around the house reef. Well, that was the plan. Alas, we went at low tide and couldn’t find a way back through the reef that didn’t involve scrambling across coral (sharp!) and the further we swam, the less likely getting home looked. In the end we had to navigate our way through and put up with cuts and grazes. Not the most pleasant introduction to snorkelling. Before then it was pretty amazing; masses of vibrant fish and fortunately no sharks. The picture shows Chris doing a Steve Irwin and following a stingray, circled in red – at a safe distance of course! Chris later admitted that he spotted a meter long shark when he went swimming yesterday but was afraid to tell me in case I refused to go in the water altogether. Now why would he think that? Doesn’t he know I have enough to worry about with the tsunami possibility? Apparently they have constructed some sort of tsunami defence which appears to amount to nothing much more than a pile of caged rocks on one side of the island forming a barrier of sorts. Hmm…

Evenings involve going for cocktails at the bar, then heading to the restaurant for some culinary delight or other. The whole system is a bit of a rort – if you want a glass of water, they charge you for a whole bottle ($6) but I have discovered a secret (and free) stash of mini bottles at the gym (also free) which I plan to misappropriate for future dining incursions. We are still waiting for them to deliver our half drunken bottle of wine to our hut. I don’t see why we couldn’t have just taken it ourselves – but that’s the way it’s done around here apparently.

Wildcats win again!

Posted on January 5, 2008 by Sam

Which has just made my day. Now I can go off drinking. Actually, I was going to go off drinking regardless so it’s a win-win all round. I’m expecting to drink a cocktail out of a coconut. Life’s pretty relaxed over here. There’s not really a lot you can do but relax so I relax. I’ve already checked out the one and only shop and I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be buying from that one! They really have you over a barrel because it’s the only place you can buy anything, without spending $55 to get a ferry into Male. Anyway, I’ve done my shopping in Singapore and of course there is still duty free on the way back via Singapore in case I feel the need – or if I really feel the need – I could order something over the internet so it’s waiting when I get home!

Breakfast had about everything you could possibly want, including a chef who would cook your eggs to order or cut your fruit up for you. The morning was spent swimming out to an sand bar. Sharks (babies) feed at the edges of the ocean and rather large fish swim underneath the hut. I’m a little concerned that I’ll meet the mother of the little ones while I’m snorkelling, but a tsunami is probably my greatest fear. Other than that I don’t have anything to worry about other than what to wear 🙂

is it too cliched to call this post paradise?

Posted on January 5, 2008 by Sam

…but it is. You would have to consider this the ultimate holiday. We’re at www.baros.com if you want a look. This must be one of the best resorts in the *world*. Of course we got in at around 2am our time so all was darkness, but have a look at the view from our hotel – or hut, as I perhaps should call it in the dim dawn light. I was too excited to sleep so I was up at 6.30 in the morning having a look outside. You can walk into the ocean from our room and fish, sharks and rays swim around you. Quite a sight. You must be extremely jealous by now and I’m sure the best is yet to come. Did I say I would be desperate for internet accesss? Well at $20 a day I’m not. If you want to email – we’ll be checking every second day!

…and we’re out of here

Posted on January 4, 2008 by Sam

Did I say I was over shopping? apparently not. But I haven’t bought any chocolate the whole time I’ve been here so I haven’t been totally bad. Before we went on a shopping splurge (or attempted to) we went to Sentosa Island. What an extraordinary display of crass commercialism. Everything you did cost something – except for walking, but depending on where you were walking, even that cost sometimes. I even managed to entice Chris onto the Luge. You can see how much he enjoyed it from the photo. We thought that, after the zoo, visiting underwater world might be pretty impressive too, but it was a disappointment. Too many fish, too little room.

We’re at Changi Airport at the moment – I managed to get on a free internet terminal but time’s running out – 9 mins to go so I’ll have to make this short and sweet. We’re almost ready to fly out to the Maldives so I may not be inclined to write very much. Oh, who am I kidding – a week of relaxation? I will be climbing up the walls with boredom. The internet will be my lifeline. Thank god for wireless access in the hotel room 🙂

Day three

Posted on January 3, 2008 by Sam

Well we did Orchard Road today. The big shopping mecca that is supposed to be THE place to go in Singapore – if you have a platinum credit card or a sugar daddy, that is. Prada, Versace, Armani, the glamour shops are endless – and I didn’t dare go in! I’ll just stick with Gap which is about my price range. By the way Emma, the clothes I’ve bought are *mine* and mine alone.

Oh, I forgot, we did do something cultural – I had to throw Chris a bone so we went to the Asian Civilisations Museum. What a snore fest. Yes, I am a philistine – but I’m also over shopping too, so does that balance it out?

We’re going to hit the hotel restaurant/bar for dinner and drinks tonight, but really, we’re just counting down the hours ’til we can get to the Maldives. I’m ready for sun, surf and sand… well, ready for cocktails at any rate.

Wildcats win!

Posted on January 2, 2008 by Sam

Woohoo. What I’m here for 🙂

OK, so there was a bit more to the day that just basketball… there was shopping too! You can imagine just how much Chris was looking forward to it all. I’m a bit disappointed that there aren’t any real bargains – but it is certainly a shopper’s delight – if only I had wads of cash. That didn’t stop me hitting the Gap store, however. Now that is a shop that needs to come to Perth.

It took us two trains and a bus to get to the basketball stadium, but naturally it was worth it. Singaporeans haven’t exactly embraced the concept of basketball here so the crowd was pretty small. Makes you really appreciate Perth crowds. Our court announcer is great – and so are we (speaking as part of a collective; being one of the crowd). Nice to get a win after they spanked us last time we were there. Sure would have ruined the holiday if they’d lost.

Now we’ve just got to kill one more day before we can get to the Maldives. I think I’m over shopping. “What!” I hear you gasp. “That’s like saying she’s over chocolate.” But I swear it’s true… well maybe just a couple more malls 🙂

Day two

Posted on January 1, 2008 by Sam

Today was the day I realised that I hadn’t brought any walking shoes with me and boy, were we going to be doing a lot of walking today. It started with a trip to Mt Faber because I desperately wanted a trip in a cable car. Last time I was in Singapore I must have been all of 10/12? and it’s one of the few things I remember. After coming up from the MRT (train station) into a shopping centre, it seemed a good enough reason to buy new shoes. The cable car cost $15 one way and man, that freaked me out. Naturally I kept imagining plunging to my death on the freeway below. When we got to the top it was somewhat of a tourist mecca. How come I don’t remember that from the last trip? The walk down was jungle-esque and the hokey gift shops were nowhere in sight.

Back to the hotel room to prepare for our big excursion: the zoo. Now you might think that a zoo is a zoo, but the Singapore zoo is something else entirely. For a start it is huge, but mostly it is impressive for the fact that the animals are almost arm’s length away from you. Well, that’s a slight exaggeration, but not by much. I was going to go on an elephant ride but the queue was too long. If only I’d known what was coming later – I would have jumped at the size of that queue! The animals are much what you would see anywhere, but the Singaporeans really know how to put on a show. I was cheering along with the rest of the crowd when the polar bear stood up and clapped.

The downside of the whole experience was the fricking night safari. Talk about tourist trap. We were herded – there’s no other word for it – down a walkway for 20 minutes to reach an ampitheatre for a “Creatures of the night” show. After being squashed in like sardines we got to see a few animals run out and eat things, while being exorted to cheer madly. A bit of a non event so we left to take in the rest of the night zoo. Big mistake – the queue for the tram (which I’d just paid $20 for) was indescribably long. It would have been another half hour wait and that was too much for my tired, aching feet. We took the bus and two trains back to our hotel where we watched The West Wing and promptly fell asleep.