Day 28, Summer in Asia, Singapore
The early morning Sunday noises were different than the ones I heard during the work week. There were guys partying, out on the street in front of our hotel, all Saturday night. They had music blaring from their cars and kept them running all night. When we were catching our Grab to the airport, they were barfing in the streets. But that was unusual grossness.
We’ve enjoyed our homey B&B experience, said goodbye to our hosts, who got up early to see us off and make us coffee at 4 am. It was a lovely place to stay.
Always a bit of a dilemma when you’re half way to the airport at 4:30 am and you think you’re driver is on drugs. This is the second driver we’ve had who driven very oddly, beeping at nothing, veering all over lanes, and using erratic, pulsing acceleration. We were happy to get out.
We’d been warned about the Manila airport, but didn’t find it any crazier than most. We flew on Singapore Air to Singapore, always a pleasure, the airline and the city. We spent a few weeks here on the world trip, but it’s not the priority this trip. Their airport is rated the top in the world, and it’s easily our favorite. It feels more like a small planet than a place to change planes. So many of the Asian airports have become familiar places to us.
The Singapore Street Food area is my favorite airport eatery. There are so many options of authentic rice and local dishes from all over Asia. We got some Indian food and I asked for a napkin and the guy just flatly replied, “No.” I asked if I could buy one, and he repeated, “No.” Before ordering her food, Kier had asked the same guy if the food was spicy, and he gave us a very definitive, “No.” Turns out, that’s some of the spiciest food I’ve ever had, and I love spicy. Perhaps “no” was his standard answer to every question.
We showed Kier all our favorite parts of the airport, the butterflies, free theaters, sunflower garden. Was a great 4 hour layover.
Then we flew back to Bangkok to transfer to Chiang Mai. I finished the movie Gifted that I started in the last leg, and started United Kingdom.
It’s a three-legged-flight day. We made use of the Bangkok Air lounge with its better than standard airport wifi, snacks, drinks, and coffee options! We can make any place home with those pieces in place, even if we can’t lie down.
On the last short hop from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, we had a meal service that I really couldn’t eat. I’m a rice fan, but not the dense cold brick of sticky rice wrapped in Palm leaf.
Madi was trying to describe an incident she saw where a man was holding his two year old son, who had no pants on for some reason. This boy’s dad was rushing around, looking for something, and didn’t see another man walking behind him. This man was quite short, and when the father turned around, he accidentally rubbed his son’s butt right against the stranger’ face. The man was like “whoa!” But he didn’t realize it was a child’s butt for a good 5 seconds. When he saw the real situation, his eyes got all wide and his wife burst out laughing at him.
When we arrived in Chiang Mai, we got a driver who had only been with Grab for two days. He was enthusiastic and helpful.
Our hotel is amazing, a unique lobby, great staff. The girls have the three person deluxe room that has their own lounge inside their door and and even larger one outside their door. Our room is also extremely large and quiet. The snacks and drinks are included, which is always a nice touch. I already love it! It’s located by the old town where most of the temples are located. Paul knows how to book amazing places.
