After a long flight home, I enjoyed a nice weekend in the UK. Highlights included watching England beat France in the rugby while surrounded by Frenchmen, having a traditional Sunday roast at the pub with friends, and some of the most glorious weather we’ve had in a long time. Lowlights included having to jumpstart my car (despite having recently replaced the battery – ugh!), seeing Sandro’s impression of a rugby player (post-ER), and spending most of the weekend in a jetlag-induced haze.

Today I’ve got to unpack and repack in time for my flight tomorrow. I’ve got ten days in Singapore then I’ll be back again to celebrate Aude’s birthday. She’s off to NY on business – we both arrive at Heathrow around 5am on Saturday morning. At least we’ll be jetlagged together, although our body clocks will be 12 hours apart…

“Confirmed first class” — the happiest words a business traveller can hear!

Singapore – London is one of the busiest air routes in the world, with limited capacity between the two cities. I’ve been desperately trying to get home for a long weekend in London but have not had much joy — there were 27 people reportedly ahead of me on the business class waitlist.

With some arm-twisting back at the office, I managed to get our MD to approve travel in first class — which was also booked solid. So I went onto another waitlist.

But all’s well that ends well — after several days on the waitlist I’ve finally cleared into a first class seat and will be back on my way to the UK in time for the weekend!

A few pictures of the faces of multicultural Singapore. Apologies for the blurriness of some of the photos — I was running out of light and shooting handheld. Turns out I can’t handhold steadily at 1/15 of a second!

Another early start today, as I wanted to get out to see the flea market at Clarke Quay which is held every Sunday. The quizzical look I got from the doorman when I asked for a taxi to Clarke Quay at 9am on a Sunday should have been my tip-off. “Why you want to go so early?” he asked.

Trusting my guidebook (thanks a lot, Neil!), we set off for the market despite the doorman’s warning. And when we arrived at Clarke Quay, it was totally empty and everything was closed. The only other people around were a handful of other tourists. I couldn’t see whether they were clutching the same guidebook as I was, but there was definitely no sign of a market.

All dressed up and nowhere to go! After a few minutes looking around the attractions of Clarke Quay (definitely a good place to come back to in the evening) we headed across the bridge to the Swisshotel and had a coffee.

Gina scopes out a few places around Clarke Quay that she’d like to return to later…

There are nearly as many cats here as in Turkey. This one was clearly pregnant…

Around 10:30, we once again followed Gina’s hunger pangs. She’d been given the name of a good, authentic dim sum place. Given my previous experience with her “authentic” restaurants, I was a little dubious – particularly when I saw the sign for the place (and, inside the aging elevator, the “No urinating!” warning). But the food was good, and we ate like kings.

Gina only brings me to the classiest places.

Happy as a pig in mud!

True to form, we spent the afternoon shopping on Orchard Road, then back to the hotel for a quick nap. I headed out a little later on to snap some more photos of Singapore – they’ll be up on here as soon as I get a chance to edit them.

It never fails to amaze me what you can buy in Asia. And yes, it does just what it says on the tin. If you don’t like human placenta, you can also buy sheep or goat placentas. Never let it be said that the customer isn’t king here!