First days in Singapore

After checking in at 6.45pm, the route to Singapore involved at 6 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur ... starting at 4am. Ho hum, the joys of cheap travel! I took the opportunity to have two long Skype calls with Rebecca and Felicity, so the time did not drag.
Arriving in Changi Airport, the MRT trains offer a regular service into the city and by 2pm check in at the hotel had been completed: staying awake until 8pm was tough, but ensured 12 hours solid sleep and fresh awakenings on Friday. The main task for the day was lodging an application for a Mongolian Visa at the relevant Embassy and this required depositing some currency into a local bank first, but that proved simple enough. As I write I am without my passport, but hope to collect it tomorrow, complete with Visa! Fingers crossed!
So with time on our hands Dave (my Kiwi travelling companion who has joined me for a couple of weeks) found that the Rugby 7s tournament was being held in the Singapore National Stadium over the weekend. I did not know what to expcet but thoroughly enjoyed watching numerous fast and furious games over the course of Saturday and SUnday - the enthusiasm of the crowd was infectious to say the least. Sadly Wales did not perform particularly well - maybe my screaming and yelling put them off who knows! Temperatures here are in the 30s and of course humidity is high, so I guess that didn't help the Welsh players who would have left scenes of snow on the ranges last week!
I like the efficiency and cleanliness of Singapore, but deeply miss the friendly, smiling, resilient people of Nepal.

Wales' only Try in their last game