The children hounded me for my Facebook address but it would have taken my number of friends from under 400 to up over 1000.Not a chance. Its hard enough trying to keep in touch with those likely reading this blog to sieve through all their Facebook comments on my homepage. I did however give some of them my blog address.
We spent our last weekend in Thamel. We were going to go white water rafting, but since the monsoon season was over, there wasn’t a lot of rain and it would be more like rafting in a swimming pool. Not the adventure thrill we were looking for. On the Monday and Tuesday we visited the schools to say goodbye to all the children and the teachers and we received some lovely gifts from the teachers and lots of homemade cards from the children. Really nice gestures and ones that made us feel like we had done our job and what we came to do.
Tuesday afternoon we spent time getting our Nepali Rupees changed into Singapore Dollars. We were flying to KL in Malaysia but we were getting the bus straight down to Singapore on the Thursday morning. It was seriously difficult. In the UK, you can go to Tesco and get it done, in Nepal; foreign citizens cannot even change money in Banks even with passports and flight tickets as proof. We had to go to Thamel and rush around checking in every bureau de change place; of which there are hundreds to see if they had any Singapore dollars for sale. Afterwards we had a meal with the principal and the head of the higher grades which was quite nice. It was a thank from the Principal for our work over the three months. We then got a taxi back home and sat and had a few drinks with Sanjay and Deepika.
They had been awesome hosts for us over the three months, and Toni and I have so much respect for them and lots to be thankful and grateful about for them letting us stay with them for three months. Eeshan, I hope, will start reading more, and not waste so much time complaining about doing his homework by in which time he could have it finished.
The Wednesday was our last day in Nepal, which we spent packing, eating and getting things that we knew would be cheaper here in Nepal than in Singapore, which from my experience means everything! This was the first day of Tihar, the festival of lights in Kathmandu and driving from our home in Patan to the Airport was brilliant. It was a bit like Christmas, with all of the houses covered in bright lights and decorations. We knew that if the sky was clear flying over Kathmandu would be really cool. We got to the airport and said our goodbye’s and although we were three hours early, we joined a very large queue to the check in desks. Eventually we checked in and were informed, that the plane was overbooked. I didn’t know what to think. I was getting on that plane, that’s for sure. He assured us everything was fine, it just meant that we might be upgraded to Business Class. I could do with that. Only a 4 hour flight but I’ve never flown Business class and neither had Toni. We went through security, waited around and then arrived in the departure lounge where a man walked up to us and said, Toni Childs? We both nodded wondering what he had wanted but he worked for Nepali Airlines and he was here to upgrade our tickets. How nice of him! I was jumping about like a little kid. A bit like when I got priority tickets for Alton Towers, my pretentious levels increased dramatically. I just wished the rest of the economy passengers had to walk past us like on some airlines, so I could relax with my big armchair of a seat. I got lucky, because the original ticket was putting me in the middle seat…not good for me at all.
The plane ride was pretty cool and the view out the window of the Tihar lights was special. But this was the end of Nepal. That was my second year in a row there and it would be difficult to say that it doesn’t hold anything special to me. I have had some amazing experiences there, not all of them good, but special none the less. I will return to Nepal someday but im not sure how long it will be before im back. Maybe 5 years, maybe 10. I won’t be back next year that’s for sure unless somebody pays for me to go trekking again. Time to experience somewhere new. I feel like ive conquered Nepal.
Next stop, Kuala Lumpur, for a few hours then Singapore. We had decided that we would just go to Singapore straight away. Downstairs in the airport, we got a bus to the bus station, took about an hour and the seats reminded me of business class then from their we got an executive coach by a company called Nice. We got discount because we are both *cough* students. Ha. Child Prices in fact. Downstairs in that depot we got a small bus to the company’s depot then few minutes later we were on this luxury coach. Reclining chairs with footrests, the size of armchairs again. I could get used to living like this, and I would have to, because we were staying with Friends family in Singapore in the exclusive Sentosa Cove resort for the next few weeks, up until Toni’s birthday then we would go back to Malaysia.
Everything was going fine until we had to cross the border. The girl working on the bus was useless. She woke us up to tell us to cross the border, half asleep and gave us no information. Told us to get off the bus and take our bags in. We thought she meant just bag and backpack but we didn’t think we would have to change bus. So we left some water, pens, glasses on the bus. We got through Malaysian customs with relative ease and we came out and there wasn’t a bus there. We had crossed the border but Toni needed to run back and get some stuff off the other bus. It was frustrating not knowing and that bus was about to leave with Toni’s glasses. Not cool. Whilst running, her sandal nipped and that was the end of that. Part of me wanted to run back and punch the girl in the chops. Caused so much panicking and frustration for something that should have been easy. We got on the other bus, on the Singapore side and we spent the time from there to our destination trying to calm down.
We had been in Nepal, then Malaysia and now Singapore. A Hindu country, a Muslim country and now and ex-pat country. Singapore has probably somebody from every country in the world staying in it. Our first stop, Little India. Bollox. Not again. Spent so such time trying to get clear that month from my memory. We got down into the MRT and we knew we were going to harbour front, so we could then cross the water to Sentosa island then make our way to Ocean Drive on Singapore, which I now call Millionaires drive. We were shattered though. Flying at night, getting two hours sleep max and travelling all day, we just needed to find our resting spot to try and get used to the cultural differences between Nepal and Singapore. It hits you right up the face. Two extremes. We crossed on the monorail only to find out Sentosa Cove was a resident’s only area. We needed cards to get on the bus…we brass necked it, just jumped on and that was it. Who else was going to go to Sentosa Cove with all that luggage if they weren’t planning on staying there?? We got off at Sentosa cove and knew we had to get on another shuttle bus to North Cove and get off at the Azure, the place where we would be staying. We arrived there, got to the apartment, nobody in.
Aghhh. It was about 7 o clock by this stage and we just sat outside and waited. Tired and cranky. Nothing we could do but wait. Big Ron was in a meeting but luckily he called the hotel reception and told them to let us into the apartment. We quickly figured out which bedroom we would be staying in and that was it. Night night.
I heard Ron come in and went out to say hello and talk to him for a while but I was shattered as you can imagine and just needed sleep.
Next blog I will try to explain what we did in Singapore including Singapore Slings, Universal Studios, 4d cinema’s, lightning storms and Toni’s 24th Birthday!!
Later folks.
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