We seem to have made a bit of a habit out of arriving in Singapore utterly exhausted and in the early hours of the morning. So too was the plan this time. Departing from Ko Lanta in Thailand at 7am, we hopped on our bus to the mainland town of Krabi, expecting the spend the night there and then to head on to Singapore the next day. However, a tedious journey and a persuasive Thai salesman (who once lived in Borris-in-Ossory – he could not have made that up!), we) later, we were onto a bus to Singapore. A mini bus for 4 hours and then onto a luxury VIP sleeper bus to take us all the way there. Fools, Fools, we just never learn!
Sure enough, four hours later we changed bus, onto another mini bus, this one to take us as far as Penang, then though, we would get the sleeper bus all the way to Singapore. Arriving in Penang at about 8pm (you can see how this got a little …. irksome shall we say?), we were really looking forward to the sleeper bus. It sounds counter intuitive, but you really need to sleep after those long bus journeys. After a blazing row with the guy in the bus office, we boarded a coach this time (can we have a woo hoo?) but no sleeper berths in sight, nor indeed the food that comes with the so called VIP buses (we left Ko Lanta at 7am – now 8pm, a little peckish). Reluctantly we sat down and made ourselves semi comfortable for the long ride to Singapore. Not to draw out the story too much, but after 2 international border crossings, two ferry crossings, 7 buses and 25 hours after leaving beautiful Ko Lanta, we eventually arrived in Singapore.
Luckily for us, we were back to visit Ailbhe, this time for a longer visit. The bank holiday weekend was just about to kick in, so after a day spent recovering, we hit the centre of Singapore’s ex-pat nightlife, Boat Quay. After drinks, Japanese style Tapas, more drinks, some dancing to cheesy 80s covers, we eventually made it home. And what better way to recover than …. wakeboarding! We loaded our sore heads and queasy stomachs out to the water to try our hands at what seems to be an incredibly fast growing sport in Singapore. Schmo was a bit of a natural (again!) and took to it like a duck to water, cresting over the wake of the speeding boat like Torvill or Dean over ice, me, well although I redeemed myself a little towards the end, I think I probably looked more like ????. As promised though, it knocked the stuffing out of the hangovers and we’ve found a sport we both plan to give a bash at when we return to the less appealing water at home!
To continue our active weekend, Saturday morning saw us head to East Coast Park for some roller blading, followed by a night out in Clarke Quay with the cool kids! Feeling in much better shape on Sunday morning, after an early swim and a stroll to sample yet another international cuisine, we headed to the stunning McRitchie resevoir for a run! Naturally the run had to be followed by some food. This time we opted for Korean BBQ. We were not disappointed!
All too soon though, our time in Singapore was up and we moved on (albeit temporarily), to Bali.
We had thought initially we would head back to Malaysia after the long weekend in Singapore, but a suggestion was made of heading to Bali. It would cost us slightly more to get there, but when were we ever going to have a chance like this again? So we headed for Denpasar, the capital.
Bali, as you would expect from all the stereotypical ideas you have of it, offered a chilled out week. When we arrived we checked into a dodgy little hotel in Kuta, along the main strip of beach and in the most popular back packer destination. We strolled around, got to grips with the place and lamented not listening to the one piece of advice we got – don’t stay in Kuta. So early on the third day, we headed East across the penninsula to the more quiet Sanur. There we found a gorgeous little guesthouse, with little bungalows, and beautiful little pool area surrounded by frangipani trees whose flowers literally fell into the pool as you floated along. needless to say, we were reluctant to leave.
Eventually, we persuaded ourselves to. We hopped into our hired Suzuki Jimny, which bless it, really came from the bottom of the car rental heap, and headed for the centre of the island and the town of Ubud. Bali changes completely on leaving the southern penninsula and becomes an island where people actually, rather than surf and party! Ubud itself is a busy little tourist trap though, with an art gallery or craft shop on every corner. It was tempted to wander around oo-ing and ah-ing but with no possibility of carrying anything homewards, we a
Scabby monkeys. That’s what we called them. They are kind of like the rats or pigeons of our world. They’re a pest, they’re disease ridden, they’re seriously cheeky – but man they’re cute!
Cute and all as they were though, there was a sun lounger sitting under and Frangipani tree with my name on it, so we retired to the pool!!!
Bali is famous as a surf destination, but we felt it would be wrong to leave the island without giving it a go. So off we headed to the Big Kahuna surf school. Suffice it to say,we had a ball, we managed, with varying degrees of assistance, to surf the odd wave and pleased as punch decided another day of surfing had to be squeezed in. Minus the instructors, we realised we weren’t quite ready to take on the Aileen, but we have the photographic evidence to prove we did manage to stand up!
Sadly, our second day of surfing brought our time in Bali to an end, we had time for a speedy shower on the beach and a bite to eat and we said goodbye! Next stop? Singapore … where else?
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