Causeway 2010 Report Number One

For a change I made it to Colin and Maureen's on Tuesday with no mishaps - no overheating car and not a flash flood in sight.

It turned out that Robert (son of the above) was also going to the airport the following day. And then it turned out he was on the same flights as me, but he was continuing on to Brisbane. I had already checked in on line before I left home so we were not sitting together - which turned out well for us both on the first leg of the journey to Dubai as we both had two empty seats next to us so could stretch out for the journey. I think I must have relaxed too much as I discovered on the second leg that I had left my headphones somewhere. I was, however, more concerned that my power cable for this laptop did not seem to be working - neither on the plane nor in the airport. The flight on to Singapore was as bad as the first leg was good for us both. I had a snorer in the aisle seat and a deaf man next to me - at least he could sleep through having his head phones on loud but unfortunately I couldn't.

I had investigated on-line getting to my hotel on the MRT and once I found out that I needed to get the skytrain to terminal 2 all went smoothly. EZLink card purchased and off I went. For once my errant sense of direction behaved itself on exiting Little India station and I was heading in the right direction towards the hotel. Which was just as well as the first spots of rain were starting to fall. By the time I turned into Perak Road the thunderstorm was in full flow but the walk had been mainly under cover.

I am very happy with the hotel - all of my research appears to have paid off. Room smallish, but big enough for me. It is clean and has a very effective aircon unit. And when I plugged my power cable in the blue light came on - I almost kissed the man showing me the room :)

I cannot get wifi in my room but the connection is fine in the lobby area and there is free coffee on tap. And the connection seems to work outside in the smoking area too. And I have been lent a network cable for using in my room.

So I pottered about for a few hours last night - bought some water, read my email, skyped Paul, read my book and then went to bed at 9 p.m. as I could hardly keep my eyes open.

And slept really well.

And when I woke feeling quite alive again I made myself a coffee and switched the laptop on. Hmm, something not quite right here. I had been squinting at my watch trying to determine if it was 7.50 or 8.50. And then the penny dropped - it was upside down and it was 2.20!

Well, as I was up I decided to wander out for a ciggie before going back to bed. I awoke the night watchman as I walked past. There were 3 Chinese men outside chatting and eating as I sat at another table. Luckily for me as I found I couldn't get back in - they told me to knock on the window to wake him back up to let me in :)

I slept fitfully after that but managed to avoid getting up until jut after 9.

I was just about to head out for breakfast when my phone rang - Albert Hahn did indeed manage to also get a room here and had got in last night. We chatted over breakfast and are planning to meet up this evening to do the guided walk around Chinatown.

I have spent a few hours today exploring Little India. I realised that I had forgotten to pack my fish oil capsules but there were no lack of health stores in the Mustafa centre!

After returning to the hotel for a quick shower I ventured out again to restock my water supply and eventually found a supermarket as I wanted to buy some fruit for the room. So now I have bananas, mangos, dragon fruit and a few things to try along with a packet of digestive biscuits to tide me over...