Day 11 - Farewell to an old friend; last day in Singapore!

After flying 10000 km from the UK for the briefest of time, Justin was gone. It was lovely to see him, even if it was short, and it made me realise just how much I do miss home. From London, Justin is flying onwards to Spain, two back to back holidays in a two-week period. There would have been a time when I could have done that myself, but these days I would rather not!

Since leaving the UK in 2015, Justin has visited us in Spain and the far east, and he has always been a tremendous source of support. Don't get me wrong, we have had our ups and downs in life, but we have always been there for each other. I have said this many times before and will say it again, I do have the deepest respect for Justin and for all he has achieved in life. His successful career is a tenotomy to his hard work over the years. Both of us have had periods of inactivity, but we have got through the worst life can throw our way and have become the success we both are today — well him more than me, but who's counting.

I am of course sad to see him go, but life goes on and we both have our own lives to lead. I'm sure we will all see one another again in some other part of the World, until then we have the memories to take with us on our journey!

With Justin safely on his way to London, Darrell and I spent a relaxing last full day in Singapore. We made our way to our favourite part of this great city, China Town, where we browsed around the many stalls and shops, buying yet more stuff to take home with us. We, we do have a 30 kg limit each, so why not fill it. 

Darrell and I have a lot of collectables from our travels all over the World, sadly most of them now lost, as we moved countries three times over the years. In some respects, I think I collect stuff, because of the items I lost over our 30 years together. The nature of our relationship is such, that we have never stayed in one place too long. Consequently, we haven't been able to establish ourselves in one place long enough, to accumulate the things most people have built up over many generations. Having said that, I am giving it a good go now though. I do love things around me, it does make me feel somewhat secure in my surroundings. Australia is still, even today, unfamiliar to me, so I am doing all I can to settle into my new home; buying items on our travels helps create memories and connections with our recent past — important when you are building a new life! 

China Town is such a down to earth place and despite not loving Singapore as much as I would have liked, I do adore this area. I am not a pretentious old Queen, who loves designer brands — I like a bargain, something cheap and cheerful that lifts my mood. China Town offers bargains galore in a relaxed setting away from the super rich side of Singaporean life.  Yes there is a lot of money, in this low tax ex British colony, but there is also the normal side of life, with people doing their best to survive in this harsh money making environment.

Having said that, there is a harder sell culture in this area. With money tight, street vendors do fight for every customer, which does make it very difficult to relax and browse, without being hassled to buy something. I am pretty easy to give in and buy anything, whereas Darrell isn't. He will walk away, I generally won't.

After China Town, we made our way towards the city centre, where we stumbled across a huge hawker centre on Cross Street. Now why is it, you always find the best place to eat on your last day. This vast centre is full of different stalls serving a cosmopolitan array of food, from all over the World. The smells as you enter this place are unbelievable and really does play with your senses. This large building is impressive, and I just wish we had found it earlier.

The prices here are also unbelievably cheap. On our first night, we had a meal on Marina Bay, which cost about S$200 for two of us. It was nothing out of the ordinary, although the food was good, but I mistakenly assumed that this would be the price we would pay throughout our brief stay. However, in this popular hawker centre, we paid S$17.00, yes S$17.00 Singaporean dollars for two of us. Now that is impressive, and the food tasted great as well.

If we do return to Singapore in the future, this will be a first port of call for us, as we navigate the World's most expensive country. For all my criticisms of Singapore, the hawker centres and China Town make up for the overpriced, designer, pretentious side of this place, which I absolutely hate. 

Tomorrow we leave for Australia and the end of another interesting few weeks in Asia. As is usual with me, it hasn't turned out in the way I would have hoped. After getting another infection, I have had to adjust my itinerary to cope with my change in circumstances. Nevertheless, I have been delighted to do all I have done and hope to learn from the mistakes I made, returning to this special part of the World in the future!

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