Oct. 25, 2018 Bye Singapore, hello Hong Kong airport

My flight @1;05p.m.
Air Canada # 6303

Arrive in Hong Kong at 5:05 p.m.
then
Air Canada AC 8S operated by Singapore Airlines
Hong Kong to Vancouver at 7:45 p.m.
Arrive in Vancouver at 4:35 p.m and get to live Oct 25th all over again.

Ok, so i trusted the taxi driver and he dropped me off at the wrong terminal. Not really his fault though as Air Canada wasn't on his list of airlines so he took me to "all other" I found my way more or less to the right one and was directed to the sky train. Once off of that there were several places i had to stop at to get my stuff done and just when i thought it was all a go i realized i didn’t have my boarding pass for my flight from Singapore to Hong Kong but i did have the portion from HK to Vancouver. I think the whole thing became a problem because while my ticket read Air Canada it was actually going to be operated by Singapore Air. Who knows or understands all this airport stuff?

Thankfully i had a cart which made it much easier than dragging my luggage while pushing my carry on bag. Eventually after speaking to the people in several info desks my bag was checked in and they offered to check in my carry on but no, i have my warm jacket in it which i know i’ll need on the planes as they’re always cold. I am also a little leery of letting my carry on get checked in because i've never done it before and i’ve got my precious stuff in it and would really hate for it to go missing.  Missing or delayed luggage has often been a problem for me at airports and cruise ship terminals for some reason but then always turn up eventually. Finally i was directed to a waiting area and there’s no bthrm or food nearby. I’d gone by a few Starbucks and White coffee joints along the way to this point and there’s nothing of interest anywhere near where i’ve been told to wait except a nice big tv and it’s all about the Singapore tennis tournament.

After sitting there awhile i went to the loo and what do i see around the corner but a butterfly garden enclosure. So that made my day much better but wait, there nearby the butterflies was a koi pond and that was very nice as well. Not quite the swimming pool that i understand they have or the amusement park etc but it was enough to perk me up. Soon i got on my plane and who knew Singapore Airlines is such an awesome airline?

I don’t know what kind of plane it was but it sat 9 across and appeared to be quite new. The attendants were so friendly, helpful and nice and they always had a smile. After we were airborne they brought coffee, tea, pop or alcoholic beverages and soon afterwards a little pkg of snack crackers and soon it was dinnertime with several choices of main course. I chose chicken and it was very tender and good with sticky rice, steamed veggies, an oriental salad, water and a chocolate ice cream on a stick that was Magnum brand and it was excellent. My best plane food ever! And then the  landing in Hong Kong was perfect; so soft and quiet i hardly felt anything at all!

I’ll get on Air Canada and don't have to collect my luggage as it's gone on automatically to Vancouver. So now it’s 3:40 p.m. and i’ll be in Hong Kong once again but only for three hours or so and then on my final leg to reach home. As much as i loved this 38 day adventure I’m anxious to see my husband and family and my home. I hope the reno that’s been done is done and i’ll accept whatever washer and dryer that he’s chosen as well as the flooring even if it's bright orange with purple polka dots.

On the plane to Vancouver and it’s 10,256 Kms. away. No wonder it takes so long! We’re travelling at a speed of 896 Km
Estimated time of arrival is 4:22 pm local time and is now 5:22a.m. So about 11 hours to go.

27 hours total to get home from Singapore.  Its been interesting trying to figure out the flight stats. One diagram keeps showing "seamounts" which i've never seen or even heard of before.
There's Pratt and Bowie, Comstock , Detroit, Chinook and Gold Bay seamounts and many more that we are passing by. In the diagram it looks like markers in the ocean that maybe guide the planes or maybe they're underwater mountains or something but i'll have to wait until later to Google this.

What a fabulous airport Singapore has! Interesting things all over

The butterfly garden

 It seemed like there were millions of butterflies flitting around but not so many in my pics.

 The koi pond was such a good idea along with the butterflies. It was so relaxing

                                                The airport carpet!!! OMG I loved it so much!

There's my seat; the one in the middle.  In between 2 big guys for a very longgggg ride!

It's been an awesome 38 days. I hope I can do something like this again. I'd re-do the same cruise and stay in Singapore all over again anytime because the entire trip was absolutely wonderful!  Or find somewhere else to cruise to and stay afterwards for a few days. You never know....it's a very big amazing world out there with alot of swell people to meet. Thanks for reading! Bye for now.

Oct. 24, 2018 On my own in Singapore

It’s Wednesday in Singapore and i’m alone on my third day here. My room mate Annie left at 2:30a.m. to go to the airport. When she went to sleep at 7:30 last night so did i because the room is too small for two people to not be on the same program. So here i am now wide awake at 4:30 a.m after a 9 hour sleep. It’s still dark out and very quiet in this hotel but i think people here are early birds so it’s just a matter of time before the city awakens.

I still haven’t formulated a plan for my last day but i know i can’t spend it in this little room. Maybe a visit to one or both of the malls that I know is in order or i could visit more of Little India. My cab ride back from the casino yesterday took me through a part of Little India that i hadn’t seen before and it looked like never ending shops with lots of interesting things so maybe i’ll enjoy an in depth visit
Or go back to the casino.

It’s now 5:30a.m. And the singing man in the temple is up and singing his beautiful song and it’s not even light out yet.
I went back to sleep!
Woke up about 8a.m. and organized my luggage then went down to the front desk to find out if i could call my husband from the room phone. Not, he said unless you buy an international phone card. I asked where can i buy one and he said any convenience store like 7-11. Well, i looked all over and couldn’t find a 7-11 so I didn't think i'd be able to verify to the hubster that i will be home at 4:30 p.m. Vancouver time tomorrow because I don't even know!  So i had the desk clerk call re my flight and he got them so fast and easy and said my flight time is right on so that was a relief to know. I just hope hubby will be there to pick me up hopefully with my coat in hand and the car all warmed up cuz going from this very hot city to autumn in Vancouver might be quite a shock.

I took a taxi to the Sentac Mall to check out Swatches in the Swatch store. I ended up buying one very similar to my old one but thicker and the hands are glow in the dark. I believe i got a better buy here than Amazon as i would have had to pay for the shpng and this one was way cheaper and easier and i had it instantly. I hung out in the mall awhile and went to all the floors and out to the rooftop garden too. After a meal of a salad with my choice of 4 toppings (2 servings of sweet potatoes, cucumber, tomatoes) i got my directions messed up and ended up back near the Swatch store and because it was so warm in there with the humidity so high i just kept on going out the door where the situation was worse. It must have been way up in the 30’s C. So i hopped into a cab and had him drive me to the casino. I shouldn’t have done that but had to do something to not go back to my hotel room too early because that would be just too boring and besides, casinos always have the perfect temperature and there’s many places to sit and i'm more comfortable in a casino that anywhere else. These modern day malls have no seating except at food venues and i really need to sit every few minutes as i can't breathe and my back, hips and feet start burning like crazy. Then after a 2 min. sit i can keep going again. I had planned on visiting Little India again because i felt that i now knew my way there somewhat and it was on my way back to the hotel anyhow. I also needed to find some sort of colourful ribbons or something to make my suitcase more visible at the airport. Never want to do that scenario that i had at the cruise terminal ever again! There was nothing like ribbons at the mall, it was all high end clothing and no novelty stuff and not even a fabric or sewing supply store. I asked a salesgirl if she knew of a dollar store nearby and she didn’t understand what i meant. So i knew Little India might have something for me. As it turned out my stop at the casino wasn’t profitable and while it was air conditioned it wasn't nearly well enough and i was getting a headache from the heat and the humidity made it hard to breath even in there. So when i got into a cab i just told him to take me to 81 Dixon hotel. Once there and refreshed somewhat from the ac in the cab i walked to the shops near the hotel and in one very crowded store found a roll of light green plastic sort of twine or ribbon that would suffice to make pom pom flowers for my suitcase. By then i was frazzled, actually weak and felt a little sick from the heat so i bought some ramen noodles, cookies, a couple bananas and some fruity drinks and made it back to the coolness of my room. Now, a couple hours later it’s too cold in here and i can’t figure out how to turn the AC down or off and as well i can’t even figure out how to turn on the tv! Oh Woe is me. So i made a cuppa instant coffee and it helped and finally got the tv turned on manually as the remote must have a dead battery. Now i am sitting in bed in my pjs watching CNN and Trump is the topic once again and i just remembered that i forgot to ask the shop keeper if they had phone cards. I need to go home ASAP, the heat here is sapping my brain and it’s killing me.
Yes, Singapore is beautiful but go prepared for extreme heat and humidity.
I had read something that said don’t wear cotton in Singapore and i wondered even then what should you wear? Well, def not poly or nylon or anything synthetic i guess. What’s cooler than cotton? I think what it might have been all about was that a cotton blouse or tshirt is going to be all wet and sticking to you! Never did find out what would be best to wear and now it’s too late to find out. I def wore the wrong fabrics!