Day 3 in Singapore

Easy start to the day followed by a trip to a bike shop.
Another miracle occurred. John didn’t buy anything for himself. But he did buy a HR monitor/wireless speed/wireless cadence/espresso maker thing for Narelle.
Bike Boutique was interesting as they had a section at the back of the store for cyclists to shower and change for work, with their own lockers and a safe place to store bikes.
And they were more than happy to advise about other cycling shops in the area, and how to find out about rides. I could have stayed for hours.

Then it was off to Sentosa Island. It is like a vacation island off Singapore. Sort of like SouthBank, just bigger, with really really large boats in the harbour.
Had a great day, but man it was hot. Like a humid day in Brisbane in late January/ early Feb.
There were other similarities with South East Queensland. The surf reminded me of Sandgate, on a flat day.



But it was a very relaxing day. Saw some amazing things, and learnt a lot about the history of Singapore.
I hadn’t realised that there was such a thing as a MerLion. Man, they are big, according to what they had on this island.

I should have told Rel it was a lion, not a tiger...

This should make it clear why it was called a MerLion



And then we learnt the lesson about double checking the fine print on bus timetables.
We were walking to the bus station to catch the bus back, when we saw the bus already heading off.
Turns out the timetable we had picked up at the Tourist bureaux was for July. Today was the last day of June. d’oh!

Oh well, we got to explore other parts of the island.

Once off the bus we chose to take the long walk home. We were rewarded with a great walk along the river at one point.



Singapore is a high tech place, and we got some exclusive previews of technology to be used for track cycling at the Beijing Olympics.



The photo is blurry because I didn’t really want to be seen taking this photo.



Apparently more wind tunnel testing is needed on the carry basket.

Tomorrow promises to be day of good eating and good shopping.

Day 2 in Singapore

All I really expect from a hotel room is a good night’s sleep, and we got that.
I don’t need great views, and that is just as well, because this is the view out our main window


Special note to Angela : This compares well with our NYE accomodation in Hawaii.


Although, the pool view from the other window makes up for this




Today was to be a special day, as we would meet up with some special friends of Narelle’s.
She hadn’t seen her friends for 20 years, and we were looking forward to attending the church that they pastor.
Once we saw the front door to the church, we knew we were in for a special experience, and we weren’t wrong.
(Mind you, if I knew nothing about Eugene and Jenny, I would have had reservations about going into a place called the ‘church of joy’)

Jenny and Eugene are on the right, and their church is named ‘Church of Joy’.
We left feeling very inspired, and then went for lunch with Jenny and Eugene and their daughter Ruth.

So it was off to a restaurant for lunch


One look at the menu and John’s desire to try different things started to wane


But all was not lost, as there were other things to eat. We had a great time, with great food and great discussion.


I now understand why Narelle so loves these friends.

Eugene is such a humble, but talented man.
He and his wife had noticed I was walking with a limp, as my hip is still a little problematic at times. Whilst it has improved, it is still swollen, and getting out of chairs can be awkward. Eugene offered to pray for healing over my hip. I’m pretty cool with such things happening, and have seen amazing things happen to other people. But to have it actually happen to me took it all to a new level, and moved it from the theoretical to the ‘how am i supposed to deal with this’. Anyway, I can now walk without a limp, and get out of a chair without pushing up with my arms. I had been expecting some pretty special experiences on this trip, but this was something from left field. I need to reflect on this for while, not sure I’ll ever understand what really happened, but I just know I can walk properly.

I’m pretty sure it had nothing to do with the size of the regular lattes



Weather permitting , we are off to Sentosa Island tomorrow.
Unlikely to be any amazing miracle cure stories tomorrow, but hopefully some amazing photos.
Now that I think about, there has been another miracle. I actually love going to shops here in Singapore!

Waiting for the room

We got to Singapore uneventfully. Even bumped into a colleague of Rel’s on the same flight.
Rel’s colleague and her husband were then heading to Canada. Just an 18 hour flight from Singapore. Getting to Paris suddenly seems like a walk in the park.

The early arrival means a short wait for our room, but that’s OK. So we have found a private nook in the lounge and will nap/plan for the day.
Meanwhile , Rel posed for the photo with the classic ‘i have hardly slept during our 8 hour flight and you want to take a photo!’ look.



The weather was a beautiful 28 degrees when we arrived. Love it.

It is now 8am, but I don’t think Singapore starts to come to life until at least 10am.
Looking forward to what the day will bring.

Packed and ready to go

We travel light, once you ignore the bicycles. We were surprised that our baggage was only 46kg for both of us including bikes. It helped that rel made john leave the plasma tv at home.

Where are we going?

Here’s a rough itinerary

Friday June 27
Travel from Brisbane to Singapore

Spend a few days in Singapore, including catching up with some friends of Narelle’s.

Tuesday July 1
Travel from Singapore to Paris

Wednesday July 2
Spend a couple of days in Paris

Thursday Jul 4
Collect Campervan
Have a relaxing drive around France for 3 weeks, whilst occasionally checking in on the Tour De France.

Sunday July 28
Sitting on the Champs-Elysées to watch the end of the Tour de France

Monday July 28
Travel to London - couple of nights there

Wednesday July 30
Travel London to Prague

Friday August 01
Travel Prague to Copenhagen

Monday August 04
Travel back to London
Go for a drive around the English countryside, including a visit to Scotland

Sunday August 10
Travel from Paris to Singapore

Thursday August 14
Travel from Singapore to Brisbane

Friday August 15
Back Home

Perfect Preperations

At the end of June we disappear to Europe for 6 weeks.
Basic plan is to loosely follow the TourDeFrance, then drop into London, Prague, Copenhagen, before exploring a bit more of the UK.

How are our preparations going?
Rel is battling some nasty viral thingy. She has spent the last couple of days in bed.
A particularly nasty feature of this is that she loses her voice quickly.

And John came off his bike yesterday, whilst on the way to work. Nothing spectacular.
Hit a kerb at high speed, flew through the air, with a full body slam landing on his left side.
The sound of the helmet smashing into the concrete path raised a few concerns at the time.
But given that he didn’t lose consciousness this time, he dusted himself off, and just kept going to work.
Bike helmets are a good thing.

So Rel can’t sleep well because she keeps coughing. During the day she struggles to get going as she is so unwell.
John can’t sleep well due to a whiplash style neck injury. He moves even more slowly than usual due to a bruised hip, shoulder, and elbow.

Physically we are ready to go!

The thought of revisiting Paris keeps us going though...