Hello blog readers.  Thanks for dropping in for a read :-)

So this is the first real post of the trip.  I guess for starters, we have made it as far as Singapore.  We had a rather uneventful trip to get here and both even managed to catch some sleep on the overnight flight.  Asking our travel agent to requests seats ages ago certainly paid off as we were able to nab the row in the back with just 2 seats.  Sharing is not our thing it would seem :-)

We were met in Singapore airports brand new terminal 3 by Richard's Uncle Winston.  The terminal is like a cross between a shopping mall and a nice hotel with a little airport thrown in.  Very nice.  But we aren't here to hang at the airport so we were whisked away to Uncle Winston and Auntie Joanna's house to freshen up a bit. It was still quite early in the morning but we ventured into the local mall and took the mrt to another one just to walk around (in the air conditioning)... and get a pre-start on the shopping.  Have I mentioned that it is hot here?  Cause it is.  Very.  We've gone from huddling under blankets to baking in the heat.  But I'm not complaining because there is so much air conditioning around.

Yesterday we didn't get up to too much.  Richard's Auntie Joanna made his special favourite lunch for him of whole prawn (and other stuff) dumpling soup.  And they took us to a Hawker centre for dinner of seafoody type noodle things.  I am not up on the names, just the eating of it.  They took us to another one for lunch today.  For those not familiar with Hawker Centres, they are rather large, outside, food court type places with loads of stalls. 

Actually, yesterday was a bit stressful as Cheezel had gone awol on our cat/housesitter.  She was either hiding really well or had snuck out when they came in on  Friday night.  26 hours later, she made an appearance.  By then I was a bit beside myself with worry.  Bloody cossetted cats.  I don't think I am ever going to be able to have kids if I get that stressed out over a cat being missing for a day!

So anyway, drama aside -  Singapore is all about the eating and the shopping.  We have done lots of both so far.  We just got back from an afternoon at a massive mall.  Things were bought.  Money was spent.  Luggage is getting heavier.  I have two new nohohons for my desk already and I haven't even really been trying to find them.  They find me, I swear.

That's about it for now.  Hopefully I will have more exciting things to report next time.  We are thinking about going into the centre of the city or to Chinatown after dinner.  We're also planning to try out the Singapore flyer (think London Eye) and take a trip to Sentosa Island (hopefully taking in a dolphin show).  So in the meantime, here are a few random photos from our first day and a half.

Random huge sculpture at the Vivo shopping centre.

A shop entirely devoted to Crocs.  Richard refused to pose in front.

typical Hawker centre meal.  Duck Noodles.  Very yummy