Joanna's Singapore adventures

Finally the time to come home had arrived. I got myself up painfully early so I would be at the airport with time to spare. Arriving at the airport I noticed to my dismay on the information boards that my flight had been moved back 2.5 hours which would make me miss my connection. Qantas had not bothered to contact people telling them the flight would be late or to even have staff out by the time passengers started to arrive. For a non-budget airline I consider that really bad customer service, even for a budget airline it would be pushing it. Thankfully even without any scales I had managed to get my baggage just under the weight limit (22.7kg of a 23kg limit) so didn't have any problems with that. Probably a good thing they didn't weigh my hand luggage.

The delay in leaving Singapore meant I had a 7 hour wait in Perth until the next flight through to Melbourne. Thankfully I had family members in Perth who I could catch up with in that time because Perth airport is not particularly exciting. The flight I was rescheduled to from Perth to Melbourne is often known as the Midnight Horror as it leaves very late at night, arrives very early in the morning and is not at all conductive to getting a rest. Since I'd been up since very early that morning but couldn't easily sleep on the plane due to noise from announcements being handed out it was a rather unpleasant flight. Finally I arrived at 6am Melbourne time. By then I was very happy to get out of planes and airports!

Moving out of a uni hall is never a fun experience because there is always a lot of packing and cleaning to do. There is also something kinda depressing about reverting the room that has been home back to a plain, empty room that looks like it was never lived in. When the accompanying move is not to a couple of hours drive away but to another country things get a lot more complicated. Moving nearby you can take most of the stuff that you will use again with you. When everything beyond your airline baggage allowance is going to get charged by the kilo at excess baggage or international freight rates, a lot of stuff has to go. Complicating the matter is that since I don’t have access to scales, I am needing to guess when my bags have gotten down to the required weight limit. To help with that I sent some of my stuff home by mail because even international express airmail which got my stuff to a non-capital city in 4 days costs less than half the per kilo rate for excess baggage with Qantas. For items that were bulky or not worth the freight costs I had to do a lot of finding new owners or throwing out. I tried to avoid throwing out where possible. While living at halls the finding new owners bit was relatively easy- just put it out in a shared space with a free stuff sign and someone is bound to take it. Stuff I still needed after moving out of halls is a bit more complicated, involving lots of texting and facebook messaging to find new owners. Having spent the last month since I had to move out of halls living out of a suitcase and not being able to buy much due to space and weight considerations, I’m looking forward to getting back to a more normal living arrangement.

Created as a tourist campaign mascott, the Merlion has ended up becoming one of Singapore's unofficial symbols. It is half fish, half lion. The fish represents the sea. Lions play a role in the mythology of the area, despite the fact they are not found in the wild anywhere in Asia. There is a few statues of the Merlion around Singapore. The one pictured is located by the Singapore river.


The Esplanade theater is one of Singapore's most significant performing arts venues. It is often called "the durian" after the smelly and spiky Asian fruit of the same name


The Singapore Flyer is currently the tallest ferris wheel in the world, with a diameter of 150 meters. The views from it are very impressive on a clear day. I took this photo from Marina Barrage, a popular place for picnics and kite flying.

Yes, I know it is the new year now, but i didn't get a chance to go see the lights at Orchard Road in Singapore until new years day.

The road is a crazy place in Bali. People go fast, act as though lane markings are mere suggestions and don't stop for anything or anyone. Being a pedestrian is truly scary. Here are some of the interesting sights on the roads.

The roads are overun with motorbikes. It is very common to see riders without helmets and wearing totally inappropriate shoes. Sometimes there will be multiple people on the bike. And then there is the rediculous loads people sometimes carry, such as massive pieces of wood.

Many use the road and footpaths as a place to sell stuff. Here they are selling new years eve party stuff (several days in advance). People often dart between the traffic trying to sell expensive copies of international newspapers.

Of course their are proper petrol stations just like everywhere else. But for the people who run out suddenly or just need a litre or 2 for their motorbike there is these little roadside stalls that sell fuel from one litre bottles.