It was a couple of years ago that my verdict about Singapore was “boring and expensive” (or something along those lines). And in part, that still holds true. It is an oasis of peace compared to the utter madness that is down-town Manila, Bangkok or Saigon. But with the colourfully lit CBD and the hawker centres (food), it does have something to offer. Might only justify a stay of 1-2 nights, but still.

Approaching Singapore by means of air transport is quite a sight. Coming in over the sea, one looks down on an endless amount of cargo ships and, if sitting on the right side of the plane, the CBD. Looks especially pretty at night. All that is nothing compared to the approach on Kathmandu though. Descending into the mountains, close-by peaks on eye-level and finally arriving in pretty much the middle of the city was the most breathtaking landing I’ve ever witnessed.

Another “re-visit” years later. Singapore Airlines brought me into town after a 7.5h trip from Brisbane. Most of that time was spent flying over Oz. Crazy how big that country is. Just as in Brisbane, a train connects airport and city. Although the $2.50 they charge here are more attractive than the $33 return you have to shell out down under… Got to the hostel, dropped my bags and asked the guy at reception to point me towards the next good eatery.

I spent my day in Singapore mostly with doing some work online and sampling the local Indian food. In the evening I met up with local couchsurfer Czharina. We had been in touch since my last visit to Singapore and had chatted a fair bit about her native country, the Philippines. Consequently we headed to a Philippine restaurant near the marina to give me an idea of what the country’s cuisine is like.

Reliable and efficient public transportation, high-speed internet, it’s nice to be back in the civilised world. I said goodbye to Auckland and my Scottish neighbours over a glass of wine and a nice dinner with cheese crackers and filled chicken. In the morning I took the airbus express to the airport and to be fair, this piece of Auckland’s public transportation works well. Guess you can expect that at $16 for a single ride.

Almost exactly 1.5 years ago I was sitting at the airport in Singapore, heading for Australia. Now I’m at the airport again, this time with New Zealand as my destination. I wouldn’t have expected that back then.

Singapore has been most interesting during the time after sunset. Not that I could afford to go out for drinks here, not with $8 and more for a beer. Yet there are some interesting things to see. Like the part of a tunnel where people engage in all kinds of activities. Dance lessons, break dancing, inline skating and another group sitting around and answering questions to the police. Singapore has miles and miles of these underground tunnels, connecting malls and MRT stations.

Maybe Singapore and I will come to terms. After digging up some good and cheap food in Little India, I had good fun doing some night photography. I don’t want to know this city’s power consumption.

Getting into Thailand from Houay Xai was dead easy. We walked down to the ‘immigration checkpoint’, got stamped out and took the ‘ferry’ over to Chiang Khong. A seven hours bus ride brought us into Chiang Mai. That town feels a bit like home by now, after all that travelling it’s nice to come to a place where I now the hotels and eateries. I had a bit of time to catch up with Samart and Palm and then it was already time to go again.

Now that’s what I call a nice airport! Just took a swim in the rooftop pool on Terminal 1 and enjoyed the view from the pool bar over the airport. WLAN internet access is free - makes Frankfurt look like third world. The journey has been without trouble so far. We left home around 15:30 on Thursday and reached Bremen airport less than an hour later. Pleasant surprise at the check-in: Lufthansa can forward my luggage to Qantas so no pickup and transport necessary in Frankfurt.