Byron Bay to Rainbow Beach

Wednesday August 31^st

Today is officially the last day of Australian winter, tomorrow is the first day of spring!

We had a fairly early start, as we had to be packed and breakfasted and in the bus by 8 a.m. We drove first to Brisbane, through pasture land which had quite recently been flooded. Apparently, last night’s rain was pretty general and it has been going on for some time, so many places are wet. It suits the sugar cane but not the cows.

We were able to appreciate some of Brisbane because we had to pick somebody up there, and it was quite hard to find her. As we drove about, we had several opportunities to admire the river around which Brisbane is built, with a lot of pleasure craft on it. It was a lovely sunny day and the clean white buildings and sparkling river gave us a good impression of the city. There is a big Ferris wheel, which seems to go a bit faster than London’s.

North of Brisbane, the pasture land gave way to forest, pine plantations first, then eucalyptus forest. After a late lunch, we turned off the main highway and made for Rainbow Beach, our next night’s stop.

Once we had arrived and settled into our rooms, we were taken for a guided walk to a view point at a well known natural phenomenon called Carlo’s sandblow.

The sand dunes round here were created at the same time as the Sahara Desert and have been built up to enormous size. The sandblow is a dune which is gradually being blown inland; you can still see the remains of old trees which have been preserved by the layers of sand. The group were taken onto the sand to try boomerang throwing (difficult in the sharp wind which had arisen) and sand surfing down a steep part of the dune. Almost everybody had a try at both, and then walked to look at the bands of different coloured sand, according to different minerals which were in it. The different colours of sand were responsible for the name Rainbow Beach. Unfortunately, the differences are now so subtle they don’t show up on photographs. We stayed there long enough to appreciate the sunset over the town of Rainbow Beach, the sun setting as a red ball behind the town.

Then we walked back to get ready for supper. I have no 3G connection for the iPad here, and the wireless connection for Paul's laptop is agonisingly slow, so I haven't put in many pictures.

Byron Bay

Tuesday 30th August

Today, we have taken the opportunity of having a day of rest and some organisation, our first so far. We rose late and then it was breakfast for three - we had a pack of three croissants, and took two out of the packet, which we then left on the breakfast table. A passing bird opened the packet and helped itself to the third!

Since it was cool and a bit drizzly, we took the opportunity to do laundry and sort out some accommodation for later in the trip. There is an Internet connection here, but it isn't particularly cheap, and each device has to pay for its own connection, so Paul has the connection on the PC and is also trying to sort out a flight change so we have a few more days in Sydney when we get back there in October after visiting Tasmania.

In the afternoon we went out to the lighthouse which is on the most easterly point in Australia.

There are beautiful views all over Byron Bay, and it is also the spot from which to watch whales.

Humpback whales come past here on their migration, and we saw what looked like a mother and calf appearing from time to time. We needed my binoculars to see them clearly. Paul attempted to take a picture, but it is mostly sea with a tiny speck in the middle. We did get pictures of a little wallaby though, which was quietly browsing on the hillside just below us.

Our tour leader laid on a barbecue for us in the evening, and in tribute to the English, a violent thunderstorm started and is still rumbling on. Fortunately, the barbecue area is under cover so we were still able to cook and then eat, albeit surrounded by a wall of water outside and accompanied by very loud thunder and cracks of very bright lightening.

Although I have managed to post some pictures here, they aren't very good - it was a very dull day. And the current internet connection is agonisingly slow

Surf School to Byron Bay

Monday August 29th

Well, I am afraid Surf School was short of two pupils! It got very cold after dark on Sunday evening, and while sitting round the fire after supper playing silly games, we became very cold indeed. What a change from Singapore and Hong Kong! Unfortunately, we did not realise our little shipping container cottage had a heater inside, so we suffered the cold and it took us a long time before we were warm.

A hot shower when the kind person woke us at 6 a.m.helped, but not enough. The prospect of getting into the cold sea at 7 a.m. did not appeal, and when we went to the safety talk, the instructions to be careful to fall on your back so as not to scrape your face on the sand, and to protect your head with your arms as you fell so that the descending board didn't brain you made it seem even less attractive. We went away and ate breakfast instead. Later, we went for a little walk to see how the surfers were getting on (mostly, they were falling over) and had another stroll round the area. It is really very attractive, with a pretty creek which is beautiful now in the winter but may not be so attractive in summer.

After the surfers finished around 9, they had hot showers to warm them up and then we set off for Byron Bay. It was an interesting drive through the countryside. Forests gave way to grasslands and we began to see fields of sugar cane. It is an area with lots of rivers, and one, the Clarence, ran parallel with the highway for miles. It was very full, with a lot of debris, and the fields around were all waterlogged.

We made a brief stop to eat around 12.30 at an Italian cafe and I was able to photograph some wild kangaroos which were lying under a tree behind the toilets. Last time I was in Australia, I saw no wild kangaroos at all, so I was delighted.

There was quite a lot of wildlife around - osprey, ibis and pelicans by the river and on the flooded fields, parakeets in the trees near the cafe and a kind of lizard referred to as a dragon on the road.

Later, the wind got up and we made a stop at Lennox Head to see the hang gliders. Some of our number wanted to have a go and went up in tandem with instructors. You wear a padded suit which makes you look a bit like a dragonfly, but your feet and legs have to hang out so you can run for the take-off. Then you tuck them up inside the padding.

We went on to Byron Bay which is just a couple of streets but has lots of shops and restaurants as it is quite a tourist spot. Parts of it have been described as quite 'hippie' and there are shops selling crystals, advertising 'fairy portraits' or suggesting workshops on shamanism. Mostly, of course, this is a resort for dedicated surfers and there are plenty of shops catering for them too. The beach is beautiful, wide and sandy with some gentle surf.

Sydney to Surf School

Sunday August 28th

Some bits of this blog will be text only until we get somewhere where Paul can get his laptop onto a wireless network, and I can use the PC to add the pictures. I have a 3G SIM for the iPad, and I can get pictures onto the iPad from my camera. But Blogger doesn't seem to work terribly well with the iPad, and it can't see the iPad's pictures at all. I haven't been able to make the suggested solution, using Photobucket, work either. I need to spend some time on a wireless network to work out how to do that, so for the moment the iPad is doing the text and the PC will provide the pictures later.

We were picked up early this morning and started off up the east coast of Australia for a 450 Km drive along the Pacific Highway. It was a reasonably interesting drive, first through the Sydney suburbs, then through forests of Eucalyptus and grasslands. We saw cattle and horses, and some pine forests obviously being used for timber. We made a lunch stop for a pie - Australians are very keen on pies. Later we stopped at the 'Big Banana', a banana plantation which is also a kind of amusement park.

We just climbed the hill and looked at the view across the Tasman sea, which was beautiful.

I had a chocolate frozen banana - I can never resist a new experience.

About 4.30 we arrived at the surf camp. We are staying in little cottages made from shipping containers! I have a friend who will be particularly interested in the picture of that, since she and I stayed in something not unlike it once in Canada.

It is perfectly clean, and has bunk beds, a little kitchen area, and a little bathroom with shower, basin and loo. There is a very nice beach with a bit of surf, not too much.

I'm writing this sitting on a chair outside the shipping container. Supper is at 6, and some kind person is to wake us at 6 tomorrow for breakfast, as our surfing lesson is at 7! I am far from certain I am going to learn to surf, in fact I am far from certain I am even going to try.

Sydney

Saturday August 27th

We arrived in Sydney at 8a.m. after a 9 hour flight feeling very tired, so I am afraid when we reached our hotel, we slept until after lunch time. Then, it took us some time to get ourselves organised. We needed to visit the Apple store because I couldn't get the local SIM into the iPad (the paper clip I had was no substitute for the proper Apple tool) and Paul had no signal on his phone. The SIM problem was quickly solved, but Paul's phone said it had lost the network and nothing seemed to work. Unfortunately, shops shut here at 5, and we failed to get to the 3 phone shop until about 5 past, so we were stuck. We went off to sightsee instead.

We weren't far from Circular Quay so we walked there and enjoyed the ambiance - all the ferry boats coming and going across the harbour, and beautiful views of Sydney Harbour bridge and the Opera House.

The bridge was particularly spectacular against the sunset.

We wandered all round the area. Sadly, the Botanic Gardens shut at 5.30 so there was no time for them, but we admired all the brass plaques to Australian writers set into the pavement.

It was dark by 6, and we opted for early supper at 6.30 because we had missed lunch. We sat under the stars (well, under the clouds really) and had a very nice supper accompanied by a busker on a Spanish guitar. As a bonus, I managed to get Paul's sulky phone to offer me some alternative networks, since it had lost its own, and it eventually worked. We need an early night, as a tour company will pick us up at 6.25 a.m.

The last of Hong Kong

Friday August 26th

Our last day in Hong Kong. We managed, for once, to get going early and checked out of the hotel by 9.30, leaving our bags for later collection.

Since we were so early, we were able to have a new experience, going down on the escalator. Since the escalator is for workers, it goes down from 6 a.m. until 10 a.m. Then it is closed for 20 minutes so those on the way down can complete their journey. It opens again at 10.20, when it starts going up, which it does until 10 p.m.; then it closes completely until the next morning. 

One thing that occurred to me was that the streets in central Hong Kong seemed much less crowded than they were in 1977, in spite of the fact there are 2 million more people than there were then. I do remember it was quite impossible to push a child in a pushchair down the street, Queens Road Central was always like Oxford Street on the first day of the sales. Now, it seemed no more crowded than any other street. This could, of course, be because of the number of people who have been re-housed outside of the centre in new towns. But we were also struck by the number of high-level walkways that keep people up at first floor level and away from the streets.

We got off the escalator just before the bottom, to do some sightseeing. Our first visit was to an old-fashioned area called Sheung Wan, which is felt to be somewhat reminiscent of old Shanghai. First, we visited the Man Mo temple, which is about 200 years old. It was having renovations done, but we were able to go inside and take some pictures. Coils of incense hung from the ceiling, and it was dark and smoky inside and surprisingly small for such an important temple.

There were statues of various gods, some with offerings of fruit in front of them, and a couple of worshippers praying and offering incense sticks. There were other people taking pictures, nevertheless we tried to be very discreet and turned off the flash.

Old parts of Hong Kong sometimes had very steep streets - nowadays they cut the tops off mountains and use the spoil to make the slopes less steep, but that only happened relatively recently I believe - since the end of the war. You can still see some streets so steep they are just steps - one is called Ladder Street. We headed for Upper Lascar Row, sometimes called Cat Street, which has lots of antique shops and stalls and is very picturesque. We were unfortunately too early for some of the shops and stalls, but some were open and we were able to contemplate lots of heavy antique furniture, some 3 foot high stone Chinese lions for the garden, lots of ceramics and carved stones and any number of new 'antique' coins.

Shops in other streets nearby were more organised - this is a collection of stalls that will make you a 'chop' - a stamp with your signature using Chinese characters which you can stamp onto documents.

We caught a tram along to Hong Kong Park, something else which is new since our time. It is very nicely landscaped, with fountains, lakes and waterfalls. The lakes are full of large carp and large terrapins, and I longed to join them in the water, it was so hot. One of the waterfalls is arranged so that you can walk behind it, and you can get underneath one of the fountains, all, I imagine, to help you feel cooler. It didn't work!

We walked up the hill to the aviaries, the usual large aviaries with thick mesh which makes it impossible to photograph the bored-looking birds. But there is the most wonderful walk-through aviary which is huge and set up like a rain forest, with wooden walkways winding down through the forest canopy so you can see the birds which seem to have little fear of humans. The main problem is that mostly they fly so fast they are hard to photograph! However, we did manage some pictures of a few who were prepared to pose for the cameras - the Balinese Mynah bird was particularly co-operative.

The park also houses 2 small museums, both of which are air-conditioned, so we visited both. The Seal Museum had a lot on the history of seal carving, and also an excellent selection of early ceramics. The Tea Museum was extremely fascinating, explaining the different ways tea can be made and the different ceremonies associated with it. I had no idea that it was customary to pour hot water onto the leaves and then immediately throw it away. This is known as 'washing' the tea.

Pausing only for a quick lunch (in an air-conditioned mall!) we headed on to the Bank of China building where they allow tourists access to the 43rd floor to appreciate the views of Hong Kong from on high. And the views were indeed fantastic so we spent some time up there taking photographs. Unfortunately, none of them is very good as they are taken through a window, and it was a muggy, misty day

It was very hot indeed, so we decided to call it a day and took a tram back westwards so we could use the escalator back to our hotel.

There, we cooled off in the pool until it was time to head for the airport

Even more Hong Kong

Thursday August 25^th

After such a hot day yesterday, we decided on a cooler day today. So we opted for a visit to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, which has won several awards. Another bonus was that it is in Sha Tin, where we used to live for most of our time in Hong Kong. We managed, for once, to catch the (air-conditioned) hotel courtesy bus to the centre of Hong Kong, and from there it was 2 different metro lines and 2 different trains (all air-conditioned). As soon as the train came out of Lion Rock Tunnel, we looked to see if we could see Worldwide Gardens, but everything was so different. When we moved there, Worldwide Gardens was the only high rise development on the whole hillside and our 5 (I think) 20 storey blocks looked down on all the flower farms in the valley below. Now there are no flower farms, instead there are thickets of other multi-storey blocks all over the valley and right up the hillside. I might have spotted Worldwide Gardens, but I’m not sure.

Sha Tin itself was also un-recognisable, being now a big town with a population of over three quarters of a million – all housed in multi-storey buildings, of course

The Museum was only a very short walk from the station, and of course, it was air-conditioned too. So we had a lovely cool day. The museum itself is stunning, so we ended up spending all day there.

There are a couple of interesting galleries about Cantonese Opera, with very colourful costumes and some recounting of the history of the opera. The galleries are full of the sound of the music of the operas, which Paul did not enjoy. But we found the costumes and the scenes fascinating, and there were lots of details about make-up and back-stage life as well.

The best bit, however, was the heritage galleries, which outlined the history of Hong Kong from prehistoric times.

We were very taken with the old narrow gague steam engine that belonged to the original Kowloon to Canton railway.

There were some superb set pieces, replicas of old traditional shops and crafts, the one below is a traditional quilt-maker's shop. There was also an interesting video of how the cotton quilts were made.

There were other wonderful shops too - a maker of ritual paper (Hell money and so on) a Chinese medicine shop, a shop that sold pottery, baskets and tools. There was a whole street of fisherman’s houses on stilts.

Most of the real stilt houses have now gone, and I had not realised, but most of the boat people have also gone. There is very little fishing left, and the boats were very crowded and unsanitary, so the families were re-housed. Apparently there are only 6 residential boats left, and there used to be thousands when we lived here.

We spent hours in these galleries, and I went to see a video on the boat people. Then we looked at some of the Chinese art in other parts of the gallery. The pottery was particularly superb, but for some reason I don’t seem to have taken any pictures.

We decided to eat in the hotel tonight as we have to pack and get ready to check out – we fly to Sydney tomorrow night.

Still more Hong Kong

Wednesday August 24^th

Today, we decided to do the really touristy bit, and visit Ocean Park, which is really just an amusement park. We went once before, in 1978, just after it opened, when I was heavily pregnant, taking our older son and the three children of a friend and neighbour, and we were interested in seeing how it had changed. Actually, it was unrecognisable! So many new attractions have been added, and it has become extremely busy and crowded.

We caught a bus from the city centre to the park, and as soon as we went in, became aware that it was very different from what it was in 1977.The entrance has become quite cheesy, with odd cartoon-like statues and dancing fountains, and the queues for most things were very long indeed.

Paul wanted to see the aquarium, so we joined a giant snaky queue for that. Fortunately, the wait was not too long and it was very interesting, with many different fish, the smaller ones very colourful in tanks with brightly coloured corals. There were sharks and manta rays, some quite large, all swimming around very purposefully. Sadly, as flash photography was not allowed, my pictures are dreadful – not one worth looking at. I was particularly sorry not to have better pictures of the weed sea dragons, which are somewhat like large sea horses but appear to be made from fronds of lime green seaweed. The big sharks and manta rays swam too fast for the shutter speed of my camera.

We were far more successful with the giant pandas. Surprisingly, there was almost no queue to get in to see them. Jia Jia was lying on his back posing when we went in, and An An was lunching. I know they are supposed only to eat bamboo shoots, but An An was having raw carrots. When he had finished one selection, he went looking for another, and came quite close to us.

I was delighted to see them, particularly since I had gone all the way to the Chengdu Panda Sanctuary in 2001 and failed to see a single panda because they were all asleep.

We intended to go to the cable car to reach the upper part of the Park, but Paul was interested to see something called the Ocean Express. It turned out to be a kind of train that accesses the upper park through a tunnel made in the mountain. At least it was air-conditioned, and had no queue.

In the upper park, we had hoped to go on one of the rides which we had enjoyed in 1977, the Rapids, which whirl you about in a circular ‘boat’ along a river trail, getting you very wet. Sadly, the queue for that was over two hours, and it was even hotter than yesterday, so we gave up that idea. We saw more wildlife attractions, Chinese sturgeons, 5 foot long rather prehistoric looking things, and lots of jellyfish. In both cases, no flash photography meant my photos were rubbish. There were some beautiful birds like the toucan which we also failed to photograph because the mesh of the aviary was so thick it ruined the photos.

We were high up by then, with lovely views all over Hong Kong Island, and I anticipated even better ones from the cable car down. Unfortunately, once again the queues and the heat outfaced us; we couldn’t face the wait and returned the way we had come, by air-conditioned Ocean Express.

It was an even hotter day today, and the air-conditioning in the bus back to town wasn’t able to cope, so the bus was quite warm.

As we stood on the escalator back to mid-levels, we stopped to photograph a typical Hong Kong scene - workmen dismantling the bamboo scaffolding around a building.

I always remember being amazed that bamboo was strong enough for scaffolding, though we noticed plastic ties are used today, rather than the rattan of 30 years ago. Also, the workmen are wearing hard hats, which they didn’t always do before, and safely harnesses, which they never did before. They didn’t, as far as I could see, appear to be actually using the safety harnesses though!

This evening's dinner was a somewhat different experience. We had noticed a tiny hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant down a back street near our hotel, and Paul was desperate to have some proper Chinese food. Mid-levels, where our hotel is, is full of western restaurants but there are no Chinese ones to be seen. So we ate in the tiny 4 table restaurant tonight. The bill this time was the equivalent of 7 pounds - somewhat different from our Lonely Planet recommended one!

More Hong Kong

Tuesday August 23^rd

Today we decided to do something else we had never done before, visit Lantau Island. Getting there is somewhat easier than it was when we were last here – now you just get on the train. We took a bus downtown from our hotel, then the train to a stop just past the airport, a place called Tung Chung, which is on Lantau Island.

Tung Chung has obviously been used to house people; there are a great many multi storey apartment blocks. However, because it is now a tourist attraction, there are more giant shopping malls. We went looking for the cable car to Ngong Ping, which is where you find the giant Buddha and a famous Po Lin Buddhist monastery. The queue for the cable car was enormous, but we discovered that we could travel there by bus and back by cable car, and we took that option.

There was no queue for the bus, the journey took about 50 minutes, and the views we wonderful. In spite of the myriad of multi-storey apartments, Lantau gives the impression of being very sparsely populated. Most of the island is mountainous and heavily covered with forest, giving a velvety appearance to the slopes. The roads are narrow winding switchbacks, giving views of beautiful beaches and a wonderful blue sea dotted with small islands.

Ngong Ping itself is something of a disappointment; it’s a replica of an old Chinese village, and is really just another shopping opportunity. The heat was fierce though, so we were glad to go into a few shops just to get cool. We lunched there too, before going to look at the giant Buddha. It really is amazing how hard it is to get real Chinese food here – most of the restaurants were western, and the Chinese places had no vacant tables. Standing outside in the heat did not appeal, so we had to settle for western. We could, of course, have had a vegetarian lunch at the Po Lin monastery, but Paul would rather stick pins in his eyes than eat vegetarian food, so I didn’t even suggest it.

After lunch, we went to look at the Buddha. He really is spectacular; being 34 metres high, he is, apparently, the world’s largest seated outdoor bronze statue. The pedestal underneath the statue houses a 3 storey museum of Buddha artefacts. There are 268 steps leading up to the statue, and in spite of the baking heat, a great many people were climbing them.

We were hot and tired, and anticipated more huge queues at the cable car, so we made our way back there and found we only had a short wait. The cable car journey was also spectacular, though I have to say we enjoyed the bus more. You seem much removed from the landscape, being so high up above the forest. But it did help us to appreciate the enormity of the rehousing projects, as we looked down on the lego-like blocke of the multi-storey apartment buildings.

Hong Kong

Monday 22nd August

We decided today would be a day on Hong Kong Island, visiting places we used to know. We began with one we had never visited though - the Botanic Gardens. We were able to walk there from our hotel, using stairs and pathways. Really, we had quite forgotten how steep everything is, most slopes are 60 to 80 degrees or more, and many have to be stabilised with concrete. Often there are holes on the concrete for trees, so that the appearance is not too bleak. The roads are amazing, many on stilts, very steep, and full of hairpin bends, round which drive double decker buses and huge lorries, at speeds that appear to us to be far too fast. The Botanical Gardens were cool and quiet and full of interesting plants. There were also some animals in cages, mostly primates. We felt, in the whole, that the cages were far too small, especially that belonging to a huge orang utang.

After wandering round the gardens, we walked down to the Peak Tram station and queued for a tram.

We had quite a wait, Hong Kong is full of tourists. The journey was much as we remembered from the only other time we did it, but what a contrast at the top. 35 years ago, there was a viewing platform a bit like a large car park. Today, there is a shopping mall of many floors of expensive shops, with escalators between. The top floor, called the skytower, is only accessed after you pay! However, the views on the way up were quite spectacular, and we had plenty of opportunity to look out at the concrete canyons below.

From outside, we could see all round the island, and it was remarkable the number of ships going and coming.

We raised our hair by catching a double decker bus back down to the central area. There was one place where the bus had to reverse to get round a bend.

Then we walked to the Star ferry and caught it over to Kowloon side. The ferry hasn't changed, in fact I am sure they were the same boats we used in 1977!

We travelled in Meridian Star, and I photographed Morning Star and Celestial Star as they passed us. The fare has doubled now though - it's nearlt 40 pence now!

Kowloon was different too. A lot of land has been reclaimed, so the famous Penninsula Hotel is no longer on the waterfront. Neither is the YMCA, where I took my children to swim in 1979 - in fact, the Y is looking a little run down. They are both about 200 yards inland, and various new buildings, the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Cultural Centre occupy the waterfront now. We had a brief look at the Art Museum, and may go back if time permits.

We were tired by then, so we returned to the hotel by way of the escalator again, for a shower and a rest. The escalator is endlessly fascinating, with views out over the muddle and chaos of the streets - that aspect hasn't changed at all!

We decided to take a restaurant recommendation from my book on Hong Kong, and went to a restaurant described as 'moderately expensive'. We had the buffet meal, and it was lovely, but it was also over 100 pounds! 'Clearly, we have a different idea of 'moderately expensive'!

Singapore to Hong Kong

Sunday August 21st.
I see I have been doing things upside down, and a quick re-arrangement is necessary!
We were sorry to leave our lovely Singapore river view - and even more sorry to leave it at 5.30 in the morning!

Our flight was at 8, so were at the airport by 6.

Hong Kong has changed so much in the last 35 years it is hard to recognise much - starting with the new airport and a very fast Airport Express into town. Everything was very efficient and organised, so we now have the octopus cards (like London's oyster) to pay for public transport, supposing I can find a bus map. Our hotel, which is in mid levels, had a shuttle bus from the town terminal. However, in this hotel, we can only have one network connection per room so at the moment it on the iPad so I can post on the blog. Paul's laptop is very slow, and combined with the slow speed of the network connection, would probably mean a lot of time trying to get on the web at all. Using the iPad means no pictures, as I don't yet have a camera connection for the iPad, so we need to make another attempt to buy one. Sightseeing will also be shopping this evening!

Later, I bought a camera connection for the iPad, but I'm still in difficulty posting the pictures - the network connection is just too slow.

Paul didn't mind the shopping expedition as it means we get out of the heat and go into air-conditioned malls. It gave us a change to recover from the hair-raising ride up, and then down, from mid-levels. We had forgotten just how steep and twisty the roads are - when we lived in mid-levels ourselves, 35 years ago, we had no car anyway, and we only stayed 3 months before moving out to the New Territories.

After shopping, we had time for a bit of exploring round the streets and some use of the metro system, before finding the escalator back up to mid levels. Yes, escalator. From central Hong Kong, you can ascend on a series of linked travelators and escalators up to mid levels, half way up the Peak. The whole journey takes 20 minutes - there are a lot of escalators! Our hotel is not quite at the top, so we get off after about 17 minutes, and stagger several hundred yards up a very steep street back to the hotel, where we are on the 22nd floor!

Saturday 20th August
We decided to visit Sentosa, a resort island to the South of Singapore. We took the metro to the Harbour, and from there you have a choice of ways to get to the island. There is a moving boardwalk, (which we couldn't find) a monorail, or a cable car. As I had travelled by cable car 12 years ago, and Paul didn't want to, we went by monorail and had some wonderful views of the harbour on the way. It was dull early on though, so the photos aren't great.

Sentosa continues to be developed, and a spa resort and casino have recently been opened, not to mention Universal Studios.

We made for the much quieter beautiful beaches at the south of the island - you can walk or take the beach tram, the tram being the better option on such a hot day.

There is a tiny island off one of the beaches which is billed as the most southern point of continental Asia. It is reached by a plank and rope suspension bridge, which is worryingly wobbly.

The water is shallow and clear, and there are plenty of palm trees for shade. Shade was very necessary, as it was a bakingly hot day. We had views of the amazing amount of shipping lying off Singapore - I had no idea there would be so many ships.

The beach also had a wildlife attraction, and we saw some wonderful birds, mostly very colourful loris and some parrots and cockatoos. They are all birds which have been rescued from inappropriate cages or occasionally from predators; some can be released back into the wild and those that can't be are kept in large aviaries. We watched them being fed - they all eat fruit.

Later, we met a little monkey which sat on my shoulder. It was a delightful little macaque with a very gentle manner and little soft hands. Paul tried to take photos, but none was very successful.

As we were very hot and tired, we went back to the hotel for a snooze before dinner. We tried the food stalls in the local shopping mall, but found the food wasn't as good as the one we found on the edge of Chinatown. Singaporeans are very fond of their food, and many food stalls producing just a few dishes are situated in a 'food court'. This one had quite a selection of chinese, korean and japanese food. Afterwards, I had a very interesting dessert - something called a strawberry milk ice. Very cold shaved ice is mixed with condensed milk, which causes the condensed milk to freeze in granules. There are strawberries and strawberry sauce on top.

In Singapore

Friday 19th August

A fruitless search for a camera kit for the iPad consumed some of the morning, along with a search for the correct place to buy a tourist travel pass. It took some time to find the correct station, but by 2 pm we were on our way to Singapore zoo. The journey took nearly 2 hours, but gave us a chance to appreciate some of the smarter suburbs - wide boulevards and low-rise developments and lots of forested areas and reservoirs.  we had not expected so much forest.

The zoo is quite good; many of the animals have very natural-looking enclosures and quite a few of the monkeys are just trained to stay in particular trees, very close to the visitors. You could touch them, though people sensibly don't seem to.

You can get close to the orang utangs too, in fact the zoo photographer will take your picture with them if you want. We contented ourselves with our own photos. The hanging thing underneath the big male's chin is a neck pouch, which he uses to store food to eat later.

You can also have elephant rides, presumably with photographs as well, but there seemed to be no takers while we were there.

The otters were very appealing, whistling and chirruping at the visitors, and play fighting with one another. You can watch them underwater too, as you can with the pigmy hippos. Sadly, you can't take decent photos of them, there are too many reflections in the glass.

We saw three rare white tigers, two playing like kittens though one of them prefered cooling off in the water.

The tapir completely ignores visitors, in fact later, during the Night Safari, it decided to snooze on the road, and the little train the visitors travel on had to drive round it.

The Zoo closes at 6, so there is time to eat before the Night Safari starts.

The trip in the Night Safari train, which is completely open, is supposed to be a hushed affair, but the guide couldn't get the people in our carriage to shut up, they jumped up and down and screamed with excitement, they roared at the lions and howled at the wolves and frightened the deer. One or two took flash photographs too, which is not allowed. We took no photos, we'll just have to rely on memory. Grazing animals like the deer and the tapir wander freely and show little interest in the train, and there are wide moats separating the visitors from the lions and tigers and hyenas. You really appreciate the sheer size of a rhino, being so close to it.

After the train, you can walk through the rain forest, which is a real experience, and you see animals which are normally snoozing during the day. The leopard pretended to be asleep so we would go away, his ears twitched and now and again he peeked out of a half-closed eye to see if we had gone. The bats in the mangroves were amazing, they fly so close to you might think they intend to part your hair! Paul was very taken with the wolves and the tiny tarsus which jumped about inches away from us.

By 9.30 we were very weary and my feet were hurting, so we made our way back by bus and train.