At 9:00 this morning we left the hostel for the final time after a quick breakfast and double-checking that we had everything. From there it's been the beginning of the long journey home. We went through the airport and onto the flight pretty quickly at KK, and around 2:20 we arrived in Singapore.
Once in Singapore, we were let loose to roam around the airport as we wanted until 10:00pm, when it was agreed that we would all meet up again at the gate. We all found some food (our first priority) and then wandered around to do some shopping. We were entitled to 20 Singapore dollars off of food and another 20 off of cosmetics/duty free because of the length of time that we had to wait for our next flight, so I decided to treat myself once more as a bit of a reward at the end of the trip by buying myself some perfume.
At 5:00pm, seven of us all went on a bus tour of Singapore to view some of the city. It was free and we had plenty of time to kill so we thought why not?! This did involve us going through immigration so that we could leave the airport and actually enter Singapore, but it wasn't too much hassle. Our tour guide was called James and spoke to us all about the city, particularly how this year marks 50 years since Singapore became independent as its own country, so there are lots of celebrations soon to be held.
We made two stops as well as just driving around lots of the city whilst James told us about the city, such as how the government re-plants all the trees in the city every 5 years to stop the roots tangling with underground cables, and how they all eat about 6 meals a day in Singapore, and how everyone gets a new car every 3-5 years because the road tax is much more expensive for older vehicles.
The first stop was pretty much in the centre of the city where we marvelled at some of the architecture they have there, including a hotel which consists of giant towers topped by a boat spanning all three, with trees and a swimming pool on top of the boat! The second stop was in the East Bay Gardens, which had a spectacular variety of plants from all over the world, as a well as a small aquarium with giant fish and a pig-nosed turtle, and much more.
We were back in the airport once more just before 8:00pm - where we found some of the guys still whizzing around on luggage trolleys as they had been ever since we'd arrived - and then it was time to hunt for dinner. A tiny bit more shopping time and then before we knew it, it was time to meet up with everyone else. On our way to the gate we witnessed Dave joining in with the trolley antics - definitely a big kid at heart!
Once in the departure lounge we all laughed and reminisced about all of the memories we have of the expedition and whether we'd met our three goals which we'd had to set at the beginning of the trip. Mine were to learn some Malay, try some new foods, and to get through an airport without panicking... Check, check, and check!
And then it was 11:00pm and we were boarding the plane, and here we are, miles and miles up in the air and, at last, reluctantly but also eagerly, we're homeward bound.
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