i don’t think i’ll be winning a travel blogging award anytime soon: it’s five weeks today since i left home, and i’ve blogged about my travels exactly once (and i hadn’t even got on the plane at the end of it).

i have however, been keeping a travel diary - with a notepad and pen and everything. i’ve decided that the best way to share it with you is to write posts which include a few days at a time (that way, i might have finished by next october). i’ll continue writing other posts (when i have time) in between the travel ones and i will edit my diary entries somewhat so that i’m finished before christmas.

i hope you enjoy them - either way they will be a useful keepsake when i’m 90 and can’t remember my foreign adventures… let’s start at the beginning, with my arrival in singapore (aka: the molten centre of the earth).

travel log, part one

10 april 2008

on the plane to singapore:

very impressed with self, as my theory of seat booking was correct. i wanted an aisle seat, so chose a row where only the window seat had been reserved. the middle seat would be a last-resort booking for anyone, right? right - huzzah! no-one was in the seat next to me, so i could spread out with my stuff instead of having to duck under my seat to get things.

the man in the window seat was either a big drinker or a nervous flyer, or both: he consumed at least three gin and tonics and three glasses of wine, then promptly fell asleep (and! as far as i can tell, he didn’t, um, “go” once…) as i can never sleep on a flight, i watched lots of stuff on the seat-back screen: ’til death, 30 rock, rules of engagement, back to you, pushing daisies and two eps of sex and the city. i also saw most of a julie delpy film (which i didn’t like much) and juno (which i will be writing another post about soon).

i wished i had my laptop, my carmex and my meg cabot, but i coped.

11 april 2008

before i knew it (okay, it was a long time, and long overdue, but i’m skipping ahead now) we were landing in singapore. the pilot announced it was 26 degrees celsius. “that’s not too hot,” i thought. then i realised: it’s half past five in the morning. after disembarking, i had a short wait at customs and a shorter wait at the baggage carousel, before hefting my heavy suitcase over to the exit, where my dad stood, in his sheffield united t-shirt and shorts. hugs ensued.

stepping out of the airport, i couldn’t believe the heat. it doesn’t creep up on you but blasts you like a thump to the face. we dived into a taxi and twenty minutes later we were at our hotel in little india. everything looked - unsurprisingly! - indian, which was weird for a city whose main occupants are of chinese origin.

back at the hotel, it was about 6.30 AM, and i wasn’t feeling my best. my room wasn’t ready yet, so my dad went for breakfast while i showered and had a snooze. then i dressed, my dad came back, and i acted like i was ready to sight-see, despite feeling like i’d been run over…