Day 79 Flying home!
14 hour flight to the UK. Need I say more?
14 hours is just way too much. It almost killed me, boredom!! Luckily it was overnight so you can sleep for a bit of it. The in-flight entertainment system was great though!!
I walked through the arrival hall and there he was - Daddy!!! How weird it was to see him again, I had to take several looks at him.
Now, 14 days back in England before the Caribbean! BYE.x
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Singapore Update!
Day 76, 77 and 78 Singapore
As I'm now on my own in Singapore and in absolutely luxury hotels I'm not being the most active of people. I stayed at Raffles for the longest I possibly could until moving to my next hotel - the number 1 rated hotel on Trip Advisor and another 5 * hotel, Conrad Centennial. On the first night I went on the Singapore Flyer in the evening which is like the London Eye but bigger - the biggest in the world in fact. Once I'd got off of that it was 9pm so I had dinner at an American diner sports restaurant bar thing at the bottom which was really nice and really lively! The next day I don't think I did anything.. In the coming days all I did was visit Orchard Road - I'd get a taxi out there and walk back but this was just in the evenings. It was a 4 mile walk back!! So you're thinking why on earth was I walking this at night? The answer is the taxi system in Singapore. You can't just hail a cab in the city centre. You can only get them from two points on the main street - and you couldn't just go hail them on another road just off the main street. You had to queue up like a bus stop type thing but the queues went on for miles with virtually no taxis stopping - about 1 every 5 minutes but when there's a queue of over 60 people you weren't going anywhere quickly and this happened every night so every night I'd had to walk back. The breakfast at Conrad Centennial was the most amazing thing ever!!! It was insane. I looked forward to breakfast every day, words couldn't describe it! They had 5 long surfaces full of everything you could ever want! They had vitamin corner where you could get every type of fruit and they'd also blend any type of fruit you wanted to make a fresh juice for you. They had waffle station and ice cream corner too which was amazing! 20 flavours of ice cream for breakfast! AND they had about 20 types of topping to put on top - from flaked chocolate to nuts to fresh strawberries and toffee sauces etc. They had hot food that you could eat as a full meal, they had all the usual bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans!!, about 20 different cereals, every type of bread. Mmmm. I loved this place!! BYE.x
As I'm now on my own in Singapore and in absolutely luxury hotels I'm not being the most active of people. I stayed at Raffles for the longest I possibly could until moving to my next hotel - the number 1 rated hotel on Trip Advisor and another 5 * hotel, Conrad Centennial. On the first night I went on the Singapore Flyer in the evening which is like the London Eye but bigger - the biggest in the world in fact. Once I'd got off of that it was 9pm so I had dinner at an American diner sports restaurant bar thing at the bottom which was really nice and really lively! The next day I don't think I did anything.. In the coming days all I did was visit Orchard Road - I'd get a taxi out there and walk back but this was just in the evenings. It was a 4 mile walk back!! So you're thinking why on earth was I walking this at night? The answer is the taxi system in Singapore. You can't just hail a cab in the city centre. You can only get them from two points on the main street - and you couldn't just go hail them on another road just off the main street. You had to queue up like a bus stop type thing but the queues went on for miles with virtually no taxis stopping - about 1 every 5 minutes but when there's a queue of over 60 people you weren't going anywhere quickly and this happened every night so every night I'd had to walk back. The breakfast at Conrad Centennial was the most amazing thing ever!!! It was insane. I looked forward to breakfast every day, words couldn't describe it! They had 5 long surfaces full of everything you could ever want! They had vitamin corner where you could get every type of fruit and they'd also blend any type of fruit you wanted to make a fresh juice for you. They had waffle station and ice cream corner too which was amazing! 20 flavours of ice cream for breakfast! AND they had about 20 types of topping to put on top - from flaked chocolate to nuts to fresh strawberries and toffee sauces etc. They had hot food that you could eat as a full meal, they had all the usual bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans!!, about 20 different cereals, every type of bread. Mmmm. I loved this place!! BYE.x
Singapore Update!
Day 75 Singapore
Today we arrived in Singapore! Dad had booked a top suite at Raffles Hotel for me for tonight and I just wanted to head straight there but I hadn't changed any money to Singaporean dollars yet so I had to get the taxi with everyone else to their hotel. Once we got there I arranged to meet up with Jem and Steve later and I changed my money and went to Raffles. It wasn't such a great experience at first.. I'll just quickly let you know - so basically, I turn up at Raffles and my dad had let them know that I was 18. I didn't have a credit which shouldn't have been a problem because he'd paid in full already but when I got here they refused to let me check in which was absolutely ridiculous!!! I told them I didn't have one and I couldn't sort anything out then because it was 4am at home and they seemed to accept that but said that my room wasn't ready and to take a seat while they made some special preparations for me.. 30 mins later I was really bored and annoyed so I asked when I could have my room and they told me not until I'd given them a credit card which they knew was impossible so I was like and when were you going to tell me that's what you were waiting for, they would have just left me sat there for god knows how long!! So I got all upset cause they wouldn't just let me go to a room that had been paid for in full and they had told my dad they'd pre-authorised his card anyway but they got contact with my dad even though it was ridiculously early and he sent them all the necessary stuff so like an hour later I was allowed to my room, then my butler was like oh it hasn't been authorised properly can we have the credit card again which was like crazy cause I didn't have it and I thought they were going to chuck me out again, by now I'd already cried and had the manager speak to me etc. But then I phoned up dad but mum answered and I could hear dad in the background having a go at them and yeah I don't know what he said but 10 minutes later I have this whole entourage come upstairs bearing gifts for me :) They gave me a teddy bear and 2 $100 boxes of chocolates and glasses of orange juice and vouchers for Singapore Slings and yeah I got personal apologies from the manager and his personal cell number and yeah then they gave me a personal assistant as well as my 24 hours a day butler and concierge!! CRAZYY! Then they treated me as if I owned the place so yeah it's really cool now and I'm happy after my momentary hiccup :)! And yeah I love the hotel now :D It's amazingggggggggg. So Raffles - it’s AMAZINGLY AMAZING. Like beyond amazing!! I’ve stayed in a fair few 5* hotels but this has something different about it – partly because I’m staying in a suite that costs GBP2000 a night!!!! So yeah daddy paid for a GBP700 suite (he got a better deal than that, rest assured) but I got upgraded to this bad boy!!! :D! So yeah personal butler, concierge, PA, I’m living a suite life ;) get it? I’ve put up photos of my room, at first I didn’t appreciate it so much but they gave me a history of all the furniture in the room and turns out it’s worth a fortune, every single item in there is an antique piece of art really, like the bed is worth tens of thousands of pounds as it’s some unique Chinese artpiece from over 150 years ago. Mental. There’s like truck loads of tourists who turn up looking in trying to take pictures because it’s such a famous hotel – it’s included on all the sightseeing tours of Singapore but I have a key that gives me access all areas and I can get through special gates and stuff cause they’re not allowed in the actual hotel bit, there’s the separate tourist parts. It’s mad. I’m sitting in the craziest computer room right now, the ceiling is like 60ft high and it’s just for little old me :) special. You could read the history on this place ‘cause it’s really interesting. In my leaflet for a city tour I did today it claims that this is a hotel for celebrities and dignitaries :) and of course little me :D! Singapore is really really nice. It’s very European, just like being in any other European capital city! Which is nice.
I met Jem and Steve at their hotel and we went to Orchard Road which is Singapore's answer to Oxford Street. It's really nice. We wandered up and down, had a look at a few of the shops... and ended up at none other than TGI Friday's! After our lovely meal last time we just had to go again! We then went to Haagen Dazs which was so lush! Raffles had said I was allowed to bring Jem and Steve back to show them around the guest only areas and my suite so they came back with me which was really cool! Jem took a lot of pictures! I saw out and then went to sit in the bit atrium bit outside my suite and listened to the piano playing. There are only 7 suites in the main part of Raffles Hotel - the part that's on all the pictures - and mine is one of them! BYE.x
Today we arrived in Singapore! Dad had booked a top suite at Raffles Hotel for me for tonight and I just wanted to head straight there but I hadn't changed any money to Singaporean dollars yet so I had to get the taxi with everyone else to their hotel. Once we got there I arranged to meet up with Jem and Steve later and I changed my money and went to Raffles. It wasn't such a great experience at first.. I'll just quickly let you know - so basically, I turn up at Raffles and my dad had let them know that I was 18. I didn't have a credit which shouldn't have been a problem because he'd paid in full already but when I got here they refused to let me check in which was absolutely ridiculous!!! I told them I didn't have one and I couldn't sort anything out then because it was 4am at home and they seemed to accept that but said that my room wasn't ready and to take a seat while they made some special preparations for me.. 30 mins later I was really bored and annoyed so I asked when I could have my room and they told me not until I'd given them a credit card which they knew was impossible so I was like and when were you going to tell me that's what you were waiting for, they would have just left me sat there for god knows how long!! So I got all upset cause they wouldn't just let me go to a room that had been paid for in full and they had told my dad they'd pre-authorised his card anyway but they got contact with my dad even though it was ridiculously early and he sent them all the necessary stuff so like an hour later I was allowed to my room, then my butler was like oh it hasn't been authorised properly can we have the credit card again which was like crazy cause I didn't have it and I thought they were going to chuck me out again, by now I'd already cried and had the manager speak to me etc. But then I phoned up dad but mum answered and I could hear dad in the background having a go at them and yeah I don't know what he said but 10 minutes later I have this whole entourage come upstairs bearing gifts for me :) They gave me a teddy bear and 2 $100 boxes of chocolates and glasses of orange juice and vouchers for Singapore Slings and yeah I got personal apologies from the manager and his personal cell number and yeah then they gave me a personal assistant as well as my 24 hours a day butler and concierge!! CRAZYY! Then they treated me as if I owned the place so yeah it's really cool now and I'm happy after my momentary hiccup :)! And yeah I love the hotel now :D It's amazingggggggggg. So Raffles - it’s AMAZINGLY AMAZING. Like beyond amazing!! I’ve stayed in a fair few 5* hotels but this has something different about it – partly because I’m staying in a suite that costs GBP2000 a night!!!! So yeah daddy paid for a GBP700 suite (he got a better deal than that, rest assured) but I got upgraded to this bad boy!!! :D! So yeah personal butler, concierge, PA, I’m living a suite life ;) get it? I’ve put up photos of my room, at first I didn’t appreciate it so much but they gave me a history of all the furniture in the room and turns out it’s worth a fortune, every single item in there is an antique piece of art really, like the bed is worth tens of thousands of pounds as it’s some unique Chinese artpiece from over 150 years ago. Mental. There’s like truck loads of tourists who turn up looking in trying to take pictures because it’s such a famous hotel – it’s included on all the sightseeing tours of Singapore but I have a key that gives me access all areas and I can get through special gates and stuff cause they’re not allowed in the actual hotel bit, there’s the separate tourist parts. It’s mad. I’m sitting in the craziest computer room right now, the ceiling is like 60ft high and it’s just for little old me :) special. You could read the history on this place ‘cause it’s really interesting. In my leaflet for a city tour I did today it claims that this is a hotel for celebrities and dignitaries :) and of course little me :D! Singapore is really really nice. It’s very European, just like being in any other European capital city! Which is nice.
I met Jem and Steve at their hotel and we went to Orchard Road which is Singapore's answer to Oxford Street. It's really nice. We wandered up and down, had a look at a few of the shops... and ended up at none other than TGI Friday's! After our lovely meal last time we just had to go again! We then went to Haagen Dazs which was so lush! Raffles had said I was allowed to bring Jem and Steve back to show them around the guest only areas and my suite so they came back with me which was really cool! Jem took a lot of pictures! I saw out and then went to sit in the bit atrium bit outside my suite and listened to the piano playing. There are only 7 suites in the main part of Raffles Hotel - the part that's on all the pictures - and mine is one of them! BYE.x
Malaysia Update!
Day 74 Melaka
It was only a relatively short bus ride to Melaka - about 2.5 hours. It's not really a touristy place, there's not all that much to do and it's only 2 hours from Singapore so a lot of us didn't understand why we were going here and not directly to Singapore. We spent the day doing not all that much, went to a weird shopping mall which although big, was really tacky. All the shops were like shoezone and ford market-esque. But it did have a Nandos! That was a highlight. The rest of the day was full of nothingness. In the evening we went on a boat ride down the river which was really pretty and then had dinner at a restaurant along the river. Singapore bound in the morning! BYE.x
It was only a relatively short bus ride to Melaka - about 2.5 hours. It's not really a touristy place, there's not all that much to do and it's only 2 hours from Singapore so a lot of us didn't understand why we were going here and not directly to Singapore. We spent the day doing not all that much, went to a weird shopping mall which although big, was really tacky. All the shops were like shoezone and ford market-esque. But it did have a Nandos! That was a highlight. The rest of the day was full of nothingness. In the evening we went on a boat ride down the river which was really pretty and then had dinner at a restaurant along the river. Singapore bound in the morning! BYE.x
Malaysia Update!
Day 73 Kuala Lumpur
This morning Jem, Steve and I had decided that we were going to get KLbus tickets and see the city. We left at about 11am and had breakfast at Starbucks. We then headed to Chinatown which was the nearest bus stop. The KLbus basically is an open top tourist bus. There is a circular route around KL with 21 stops, each outside a major attraction. The buses come every 30 minutes and you 'hop-on, hop-off'. The night before Steve, Jem and I had planned where we wanted to get off and what to see. We had about 7 stops to get off at. However, the first bus we waited an hour for which wasn't nice and then there weren't any seats. Luckily our first stop wasn't very far. We got off a couple of times to see things and then we saw the Mosque and the biggest open bird place thing in the world and the national observatory. What was a bit annoying is that at each number they listed the attractions and this is where we wanted to see some monuments and Parliament buildings but we walked for about 30 mins and they were no where to be seen which was annoying. Oh and it started to rain incredibly!! The worst rain I've ever seen! It was literally like flowing water overhead. There was no point trying to keep dry with an umbrella or anything, we were drowned. The streets flooded in minutes (they then drained away within minutes)! However, after this we decided that we'd stay on the bus as a sightseeing tour (it's a narrated drive), if you stay on for the whole loop it's 3 hours so we stayed on and saw all the sights from the dryness of our bus! We got off at another stop near the end - the chocolate factory stop - where chocoholics Jem and I bought a load of coconut choccies which we've become addicted to. We then got back on and decided we'd get off again at the big mall we went to the day before. We found TGI Friday's which was amaziiiing!!!!! We were there for hours! We had starters and mains which were absolutely amazing! And Steve got to watch his football! For starter I had these breadcrumbed cubes of macaroni cheese which were so good! Never seen anything like them but they were great! We then got back on the bus to complete the loop back to Chinatown. It was another really good day! BYE.x
This morning Jem, Steve and I had decided that we were going to get KLbus tickets and see the city. We left at about 11am and had breakfast at Starbucks. We then headed to Chinatown which was the nearest bus stop. The KLbus basically is an open top tourist bus. There is a circular route around KL with 21 stops, each outside a major attraction. The buses come every 30 minutes and you 'hop-on, hop-off'. The night before Steve, Jem and I had planned where we wanted to get off and what to see. We had about 7 stops to get off at. However, the first bus we waited an hour for which wasn't nice and then there weren't any seats. Luckily our first stop wasn't very far. We got off a couple of times to see things and then we saw the Mosque and the biggest open bird place thing in the world and the national observatory. What was a bit annoying is that at each number they listed the attractions and this is where we wanted to see some monuments and Parliament buildings but we walked for about 30 mins and they were no where to be seen which was annoying. Oh and it started to rain incredibly!! The worst rain I've ever seen! It was literally like flowing water overhead. There was no point trying to keep dry with an umbrella or anything, we were drowned. The streets flooded in minutes (they then drained away within minutes)! However, after this we decided that we'd stay on the bus as a sightseeing tour (it's a narrated drive), if you stay on for the whole loop it's 3 hours so we stayed on and saw all the sights from the dryness of our bus! We got off at another stop near the end - the chocolate factory stop - where chocoholics Jem and I bought a load of coconut choccies which we've become addicted to. We then got back on and decided we'd get off again at the big mall we went to the day before. We found TGI Friday's which was amaziiiing!!!!! We were there for hours! We had starters and mains which were absolutely amazing! And Steve got to watch his football! For starter I had these breadcrumbed cubes of macaroni cheese which were so good! Never seen anything like them but they were great! We then got back on the bus to complete the loop back to Chinatown. It was another really good day! BYE.x
Malaysia Update!
Day 72 Kuala Lumpur
Today we arrived in KL. We had a bus ride which was about 4 hours along winding mountainous roads. It was alright though. Our tour leader said there would be a short walk once we got off the bus - yeah right!! So as you may know by now from reading my posts, Asia is incredibly humid! So this '5 minute' walk was actually a 30 minute walk but combined with carrying my 30kgs of accumulated luggage and the heat and humidity felt like forever! We arrived at our hotel which was nice. Jem, Steve, Sophie, Alice and I (the youngens on the tour) went out for none other than Nandos!! They have a Nandos in Malaysia?!?! Who'd have thought it! My excitement of returning home for English food was now suppressed as Nandos fully satisfied my craving mmm. We then decided that we'd do our own little city walking tour in search of the KL tower. We'd got a few leaflets and decided that we'd have to see both the KL tower and the Petronas towers. The KL tower is at a greater height than the Petronas but only because it's built on a hill! You could easily buy tickets to go up the KL but not the Petronas and it was a nice day so we thought we ought to do it today (in Malaysia and Singapore, although the weather is always hot, it's also frequently raining because of their subtropical climates - hence when you have a good day, make the most of it). So we walked through the city and eventually found it - without using maps - which is quite remarkable!! We went up the tower which was really cool as we got a nice view over the whole of the capital including the Petronas towers. It was a bit murky but I think that's partly to do with pollution. Our ticket included a visit to the mini zoo at the bottom of the tower which was a bit weird - it housed 'Malaysia's first two-headed turtle'.. weird. Alice wanted to feed the monkeys and so the zookeeper guy let her but he said no to get too close but she thought it'd be fine 'cause of the metal cage but the monkey reached out and grabbed a chunk of her hair!! It then proceeded to discard most of it and then floss its teeth with the rest of it!!! After that we decided to walk to find some shops and we asked some policemen on the way.. it was a bit difficult (still without a map) but we just walked and walked. After 30 mins we were like okay let's give up and get a taxi, so we flagged one down and he said 'it's right there'! The biggest mall was right in front of us, no further than 30metres!! Hilarious. So we went in and did some shopping and got Starbucks. I replaced my lovely shoes that I adored but got completely ruined whilst travelling so that made me happy. After we thought we'd head to the Petronas towers. We took a random guess at where they'd be and then we saw them in the skyline so we just kept looking up and taking the roads that looked like they were in that general direction. After a short walk we arrived at the Petronas towers. We were all in absolute awe - they are amazing! They're HUGE! And absolutely beautiful!!! We could not stop taking pictures! We went in search of the best angles to take pictures that would get us in as well as all of the towers! Most people's cameras had a hard time getting all of the towers in as you couldn't get far enough away to get them all in. So crouching on the floor we all managed to get photos. Oh my gosh I love these towers so much, so amazing!! They look incredible! We then caught a taxi back to the hotel and as it was about 9pm we thought we'd go straight out for dinner. We headed down to Chinatown, a 10 minute walk, where it had been transformed into a huge night market! It was hard to resist looking at all the stalls but we said we'd head to a restaurant first and shop after. There weren't any nice looking places but we chose the best of a bad bunch and it was on the second floor at an intersection in the pedestrianised area so we had a view over all of the markets which was nice. We just had noodles so it was okay. Afterwards we went down to the market to shop, I didn't get anything but I enjoyed browsing the many stalls. It was like a maze! We then headed back to the hotel after a really busy but great day with a sense of achievement having done so much! BYE.x
Today we arrived in KL. We had a bus ride which was about 4 hours along winding mountainous roads. It was alright though. Our tour leader said there would be a short walk once we got off the bus - yeah right!! So as you may know by now from reading my posts, Asia is incredibly humid! So this '5 minute' walk was actually a 30 minute walk but combined with carrying my 30kgs of accumulated luggage and the heat and humidity felt like forever! We arrived at our hotel which was nice. Jem, Steve, Sophie, Alice and I (the youngens on the tour) went out for none other than Nandos!! They have a Nandos in Malaysia?!?! Who'd have thought it! My excitement of returning home for English food was now suppressed as Nandos fully satisfied my craving mmm. We then decided that we'd do our own little city walking tour in search of the KL tower. We'd got a few leaflets and decided that we'd have to see both the KL tower and the Petronas towers. The KL tower is at a greater height than the Petronas but only because it's built on a hill! You could easily buy tickets to go up the KL but not the Petronas and it was a nice day so we thought we ought to do it today (in Malaysia and Singapore, although the weather is always hot, it's also frequently raining because of their subtropical climates - hence when you have a good day, make the most of it). So we walked through the city and eventually found it - without using maps - which is quite remarkable!! We went up the tower which was really cool as we got a nice view over the whole of the capital including the Petronas towers. It was a bit murky but I think that's partly to do with pollution. Our ticket included a visit to the mini zoo at the bottom of the tower which was a bit weird - it housed 'Malaysia's first two-headed turtle'.. weird. Alice wanted to feed the monkeys and so the zookeeper guy let her but he said no to get too close but she thought it'd be fine 'cause of the metal cage but the monkey reached out and grabbed a chunk of her hair!! It then proceeded to discard most of it and then floss its teeth with the rest of it!!! After that we decided to walk to find some shops and we asked some policemen on the way.. it was a bit difficult (still without a map) but we just walked and walked. After 30 mins we were like okay let's give up and get a taxi, so we flagged one down and he said 'it's right there'! The biggest mall was right in front of us, no further than 30metres!! Hilarious. So we went in and did some shopping and got Starbucks. I replaced my lovely shoes that I adored but got completely ruined whilst travelling so that made me happy. After we thought we'd head to the Petronas towers. We took a random guess at where they'd be and then we saw them in the skyline so we just kept looking up and taking the roads that looked like they were in that general direction. After a short walk we arrived at the Petronas towers. We were all in absolute awe - they are amazing! They're HUGE! And absolutely beautiful!!! We could not stop taking pictures! We went in search of the best angles to take pictures that would get us in as well as all of the towers! Most people's cameras had a hard time getting all of the towers in as you couldn't get far enough away to get them all in. So crouching on the floor we all managed to get photos. Oh my gosh I love these towers so much, so amazing!! They look incredible! We then caught a taxi back to the hotel and as it was about 9pm we thought we'd go straight out for dinner. We headed down to Chinatown, a 10 minute walk, where it had been transformed into a huge night market! It was hard to resist looking at all the stalls but we said we'd head to a restaurant first and shop after. There weren't any nice looking places but we chose the best of a bad bunch and it was on the second floor at an intersection in the pedestrianised area so we had a view over all of the markets which was nice. We just had noodles so it was okay. Afterwards we went down to the market to shop, I didn't get anything but I enjoyed browsing the many stalls. It was like a maze! We then headed back to the hotel after a really busy but great day with a sense of achievement having done so much! BYE.x
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