The trip...

You all know how much I adore plane travel.

Started off well, plane was due to depart at 2pm. An announcement came over the speaker telling us there would be a short delay due to technical difficulties.

By 2:45 they let us know that the "technical difficulties" = bird strike.

My initial reaction is what the avian union had to do with our plane.

By 4pm we just boarded a different plane, one we assumed was bird strike free (or at least bird strike lite (TM))

You may recall last time I shared how poorly my sinuses cope with plane travel. Well this time I took a picture of my water bottle to show those of you who haven't done enough science experiments exactly what the change in air pressure on the plane can do:

Go science! If I was still teaching my physics class, I'd make them calculate the change in pressure by measuring the volume difference. (You can all feel free to have a go if you'd like!)

Anyway, as we approached Darwin we were told that passengers linking to Singapore (ie. us) got to go first. Yay! Priority service!

It was a bit odd, we got to get off the plane, walk 20m to the international departures, go through customs (x-ray, hand in the form and get a stamp) then walk straight into the already boarding Singapore plane, which was ready to leave. About 5mins for the whole transfer!

So much for a bit of a leg stretch. Speaking of which, I thought the Melb-Darwin flight was cramped, boy, the Singapore flight was so squishy I had to kind of angle sideways because there wasn't room for my knees. Even worse, they charge you for food, drink AND for shoe horns (used to extricate people over 5 ft tall I think)

We were there just in time for a nice Darwin sunset, camera doesn't do it justice.

There was a school trip of about 20 13 year old boys on the flight. I thought that they were really well behaved, but apparently that's just because I know what the general spectrum of 13 y.o. behavior really is. Thank goodness I wasn't one of those teachers!

We got in to Singapore and to the hotel with no dramas by about 1am Melb time/10pm local (Singapore is 3 hours different). Were totally starving and exhausted by then, so just popped down the street for some quick pad thai and pineapple rice. I know Jetstar are cheaper, but I swear I'm going to spend the saved money on recovery food and drink (and a knee reconstruction!)

Room is nice, small and clean. The biggest disappointment is that the TV doesn't have nat. geo or discovery, but does have 20 odd channels from around the world, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, China, Macau etc. Interesting, though a little hard to understand!

Best news is, obviously since I'm doing this, there is 'net via cable.

And since you're looking at the pictures, you'll have gathered that I got a card reader too. Prices are a little cheaper than Oz for some stuff, about the same for a lot, and more expensive for some random stuff.

I'm having my typical day after flying incredible head pain sessions today, while Tari has sessions about world health stuff. We had breakfast together in the hotel, I immediately launched into the spicy noodles, fried rice, chicken sausages and kim chi with apple and pineapple juice. Tari had toast.

It's about a 20 min walk to the conference center. We left the hotel about 9am and it was already stinking hot and humid, come to think of it, it was about the same late last night too. While Tari went to work, I wandered the shops there. Some were open at 10am, others didn't open until 11-11:30. No signs to say when they'd open, so I just blundered around.

My favorite things were a shop dedicated to yo-yos and another one just for jigsaw puzzles. I also saw this:

Resisted the urge to yell "Clear!" I guess it's there just in case you're REALLY surprised by the yo-yo store.

Tari's conference is in a big shopping center/conference building. Nice, open, spacious and above all, air conditioned!

Met Tari for lunch at about 12:30 in the food court. It's decorated with wallpaper and stuff to make it look like you're in the interior of an old fashioned library. The font used on all the signs looks kind of wild west themed. I'll grab a picture of it next time we're there.

Anyhow, not much for today 'cos I'm tired and in pain, off for a nap now! I've got to keep myself busy for another 6 - 7 hours, Tari's due to finish at about 8pm.

Lastly for those of you who are into such things, apparently this is the world's largest water fountain (although it had no water in it - unless there was SO MUCH that it just looked like there wasn't any) Then again, it's so humid that maybe they're just taking into account atmospheric water!