Singapore and en-route

We weren't really interested in the usual tourist traps, so we did our standard thing - wandered into town on the bus, bought tickets on the local rail transit system and rode the rails for a while. We would emerge from an unknown rail station and wander around the district and then move on to another train and another station. We tend to like seeing ordinary people doing ordinary things - in a way different to those at home.


Singapore is so small that we eventually covered Orchard Road shops, and a couple of markets, and of course Raffles Hotel anyway.

They do have some interesting specialty shops
- the photo's a little dark:-)


We ate lunch at a cheap cafe, and of course I had to try Singapore Crab again for dinner. Some of the restaurants had some fairly interesting menus, and others had interesting warnings, but we survived.


We checked out at 2am for the 5:30 am departure. Security was so much simpler and less frustrating than US or Australian airports.

GulfAir to Bahrein to transit to GulfAir to Istanbul was a bit of a let-down after the superb Qantas service (and never-ending Jacobs Creek Reserve Shiraz) but was adequate. My wife got bored with the in-flight entertainment and made good use of her new DVD player. The flight to Istanbul was only half full, so plenty of room, but it was very difficult to get the attention of a Flight Steward. They spent the entire four hour trip concentrating on selling duty-free cigarettes to the other passengers.



As we flew over Dubai, I noticed an odd shape on the coastline. I had heard about this seaside development, but it was fascinating to see it from the air. I found a report on it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Islands