Singapore

Singapore - Friday 5 January

Another interesting day visiting some of the historic sites - old parliament house and supreme court, river areas, business district, then to Chinatown.  Had a pray in the Armenian church and visited a hindu temple and Presbyterian church in Little India with dynamic outreach to Tamil folk.  Got good value out of our EzyLink train/bus travel - oh that Melbourne's public transport was that accessible!  Nepalese meal tonight - not Jan's favourite but nice enough.  This afternoon took a train and bus to Changi Prison Museum and Chapel and spent about 2 hours with headset commentary, viewing excellent and very meaningful displays etc.  We wondered what Japanese people would make of it if they made the journey as tourists to have a look - perhaps it's not high on their itinerary.

Onto KL tomorrow 10.00am tomorrow by bus.

Singapore - Thursday 4 January

Had a good flight with Singapore Airlines on Wednesday 3rd, a delay of about an hour but better to be safe with a repaired wheel on the plane than not!  Great Indian curry meal after we found our hotel with adventurous tube train travel from Changi Airport, and a 1 km walk from the local station to the hotel, testing ourselves out with 14kg backpacks in these steamy conditions.  Praise God for airconditioning! 

After our meal last night came an amazing heavy thunderstorm, reminiscent of our Brisbane summer days. 

Today we've done lots on foot, exploring Little India some more and then down to the "Arab" sector.  A couple of churches and a huge mosque, market stalls, fabric, plumbing, tyre shops - everything you need! 

Tonight we've booked on a coach and river tour of the city to see some historic sites including Raffles Landing and we'll eat Chinese as part of the package.  Another huge thunderstorm has just broken outside so it's watch where you walk if you don't want wet socks! 

Bus travel booked to KL for Saturday - 6 hours for A$20 each seems very good value.  We're finding people here very friendly and pleasant - Singapore is an amazing mix of world ethnicities.  It feels a very safe place and pretty much everyone we've met has been cheerful and helpful.  Long may it continue for the 15 weeks ahead. 

Tomorrow we hope to go to Changi Prison Museum, Chinatown and more of the historical district.

Our hotel room has got to be smallest we've ever stayed in (not that we've done a lot of hotels) but perhaps it's indicative of life in a small place with 4 million residents - everything is cramped and compacted.

We're ready for a swim in our rooftop pool now before we tidy up and head out for the adventures awaiting us tonight.

As we did our final packing at home and attended to many last minute "must do"'s we felt very well supported with so many great friends and caring people expressing good wishes and assuring us of prayer for our journey, so we start the trip in very good shape with great anticipation and expectation for many rich adventures over these weeks ahead.

Our love to all who choose to visit and read our reflections!