Adios Tajong Pagar

Anyone who has visited our flat will know that the train line to Malaysia runs right under our window. It is fun to think that the people being transported along are heading off to another country. Maybe it comes from growing up in the UK where getting to another country involves a boat or a plane journey. The broken down trains that rattle slowly past carry a sense of mystery...and also an incredibly loud whistle! We originally thought that the only train station in Singapore was down at Tajong Pagar in the south of the island, but I had kept passing a sign for 'Bukit Timah railway station' whenever I was on the bus home. So one weekend, bearing in mind that the whole operation was due to be closed down shortly, we set off to explore the mystery. I had never seen anyone on the land around the sign so imagine our surprise at seeing a coach tour of around 50 people clustering around it all taking photos! It seems that enterprising tour agencies had started running 'Farewell' tours where folks from Singapore and Malaysia could travel on the train for one last time and relive their memories before the whole lot was closed. The station itself was like a little piece of history and certainly didn't look like all the gleaming transport hubs found in the rest of Singapore. In fact, when questioned, the guard could only tell us that the next train was, 'Probably around 4 ish!' Definitely more Malaysian that Singaporean!

It's all gone quiet now along the train line as the service no longer runs, but I'm happy to see that it has become an inpromptu nature walk and each day I see groups of people tracing the path down to Tajong Pagar.

Click here for photos of Bukit Timah station

Hi Ho Silver!

Horse Riding. Not something you would expect to be doing in this area of the world. I'd like to prove you wrong! My friend Tash and I took a trip over the Malaysian border this weekend to a resort called 'The Riders Lodge' where you can eat good food, get a massage...and of course ride horses! Unless you're in the monsoon season that is. Whilst a small break in the clouds allowed us to have a 1hr riding lesson, we had to cancel our trek as neither Tash nor I felt we knew how to deal with horses sprinting rapidly for the horizon due to a thunderstorm happening right overhead!

So perhaps you weren't so wrong after all...

I luv Phi Phi

Ever felt that perhaps you should have checked what the average age of holidymakers at your intended destination is before booking? Nope, us neither.

In total contrast from the snowy UK, we spent a few days with our friends Keith and Sara on the Thai island of Phi Phi. This is considered a backpackers holiday destination, but I think the definition of 'backpacker' may have changed since I last looked. Now it means anyone between 18 and 25 who wants to travel the world and 'find themselves' by consuming copious amounts of alcohol and getting half-body tattoos at 2am. Wearing T-shirts that say 'I luv Phi Phi' whilst oogling the amount of flesh on display on the beach is also recommended. Oh...and on no account should you be Thai!

All that aside, it was a brilliantly relaxed time that involved snorkelling, catching up with good friends, eating and drinking. Oh...and watching the antics of the lesser spotted backpacker...

Santa Claus is coming to town!

This Christmas we headed back to the UK to catch up with friends and family and of course experience the snow! This was the coldest I have ever known the UK and there were several days where the temperature didn't even rise above zero. Snow lay thickly on the ground wherever we went. Although everyone else was getting quite tired of shovelling out their cars every day, it was still a novelty for us! My mum lent me the best sheepskin coat that I barely took off for 5 minutes.

After catching up with everyone's news over Christmas (and putting on lots of weight!) we headed back down to Matt's parents' house to help celebrate a 90th birthday: Matt's grandad's. The old boy has all his marbles and most of his own teeth and was the life and soul of the party. We can only hope that life treats us as well!

Hong Kong and Kowloon

Now I must apologise for having been away from the Blog. It's amazing how life catches up with you and what starts as an adventure quickly becomes every day life...and doesn't get blogged! However, amazing trips have not been in short supply and I will do my best to still record them.

Although Singapore and Hong Kong are often dismissed as being a bit 'samey' we thought we would check the facts for ourselves. Therefore, October found us in the Grand Waterfront Hotel in Kowloon - the mainland area of Hong Kong. The first thing that struck us was the temperature difference. It was freezing! Well at least 23C and with no humidity. Hong Kong is a much older city than Singapore and you quickly feel the history seeping through your feet. It is seems more chaotic, but also more established. The Kowloon part feels very Chinese whereas Hong Kong island feels more Western. As we are lucky enough to have many Chinese things to experience here in Singapore, we thought we would take advantage of the parts of Hong Kong that are definitely different. There are many other small islands around Hong Kong and we took a day to walk around the island of Lamma finishing up with freshly caught seafood as the sun was going down. We also took advantage of some of the open spaces near to Hong Kong. It was hard to imagine that the city was so close when you were wandering through hillsides next to blue sea with a feeling that you were on an island in the Med. Of course, if that doesn't take your fancy you can remind yourself of who used to own the island and stop off at the town of Stanley where the seafront seems to have been modelled on Blackpool.

Sri Lanka part III

Our tour guide Kamal and our driver Sampath whisked us away from the cool atmosphere of the tea plantations down to the South of the island where the climate was more Singaporean. We stopped at the site of some enormous Buddha carvings cut into the side of the hill which was now maintained privately by a family so it would be preserved for devotees to visit.  We then carried on down to the town of Tissamaharama...or Tissa for those with a short memory! This part of the country differed greatly from the area we had just been in. Before it had been all luscious greenery and misty mountains, now it was arid soil and coconut palms. We went on an evening bird safari and were eye-balled oddly by our guide who couldn't understand why his paying guests wanted to occasionally walk and stretch their legs rather than ride in his bumpy Landrover! We saw weaver birds and flying foxes as well as all manner of kingfishers, pelicans and maribou storks. The next day, our guide Kamal also took pains to slow down and point out peacocks (interesting to see them wild) and chickens (less interesting!).

Our tour of the South coast continued and we stopped at a Blow Hole and a moonstone factory. Our resolve to not spend any more money was once again put to the test... We were determined to spend some time on the beach and Kamal dropped us off to play in the sand on the West coast. We were soon defending England's cricket honour by playing 'catch' in the sea with some of the local lads. At first we thought they were admiring our graceful catches and throwing arms, until Ju pointed out that it was more likely they were looking at our bikinis!

That night Kamal took us home to his family. His first wife had been taken by the tsunami along with his business and livelyhood. Time moves on and he is now married to his second wife and they live with his 3 sons and her son and daughter in a small house where they freely offered us curry and a warm welcome. A happy ending to this tale.

After fond farewells, we took the 3 hour drive back to Colombo airport with Sampath to part company until the next time. Bye matey - see you at Christmas!

More tea vicar?

Click here for photos

After a brief stop in Kandy we were collected by our tour guide, Kamal. We had been planning on doing the whole trip by ourselves, but when we saw how long it would take to get around by public transport we decided to sign up with a guide. We wouldn't usually trust people who reckoned they could show you the country on a shoe-string but he had an honest face and turned out to be a real find! First stop on the road was the Pinnawalla Elephant Sanctuary. Elephants still live wild in Sri Lanka and sometimes fall foul of humans. Any orphans or sick adults found by the rangers are brought here where they have all the leaves they can eat and a twice daily romp in the river. Some even had their own personal butlers to scrub behind the ears!

After a packed day of elephants, spices and white water rafting we eventually arrived at the village of Hatton - the start of the pilgrimage to Adam's Peak (or Sri Pada if you are Buddhist or Shiva padam if you are Hindu. Who says religions can't share?!). It rises 2243 metres above sea level and can be climbed by 5200 steps. The slightly foolish (i.e. us!) can rise at 2.30am to climb to the top and wait for sunrise. We actually arrived an hour before the sun was due to come up and huddled for a while in a small room crammed full of guides making hot, sweet tea and other intrepid trekkers that had mis-calculated how long it would take them to the top. The sun finally rose and although there was a lot of cloud, the view was breathtaking.

Back down for breakfast and a drive through the tea plantations that made Sri Lanka famous - to the point where exported tea is still known as 'Ceylon tea' even though the country has not been known by this name since 1972. We visited a tea factory and saw more tea plants than you could shake a stick at. By 9.30 we had been up for 19 hours and Ju could barely keep a civil tongue in her head! Boy did we sleep well that night...!