Where women glow and men plunder

New Chums beach

This blogs finds us holed up in the world’s smallest hotel room in Singapore (we are still waiting for Guinness to ratify the record but take our word for it, an estate agent would be embarrassed to call it ‘bijou’) having completed the ‘down-under’ leg of our tour with a week in Sydney.

Before heading to Sydney we spent a few days back on the North Island of New Zealand, the highlight of which was definitely experiencing the famous Kiwi hospitality courtesy of the Cane family and witnessing first-hand the Kiwi enthusiasm for all things rugby. We particularly enjoyed watching the young Cane boys getting stuck in for the Reporoa minis. We were also treated to some top class club rugby in the form of the Crusaders (from Canterbury, playing their home game in Napier as their stadium was damaged in the February quake) versus the Chiefs. While the Crusaders was stacked full of All-Blacks, all eyes were on Sam Cane (spot the connection) making his debut for the Chiefs. We bet you a tenner that come the next autumn internationals he will be among the All-Blacks giving England a good hiding at Twickenham.  

The lovely Cane family

We then spent a few days drinking in the fabulous scenery of the Coromandel, including the beautiful New Chums beach and the natural phenomenon of Hot Water Beach. At low tide hot water seeps through the sand and if you take a spade you can dig a hole and sit in your own private spa. Naturally we turned up without a spade, so we loitered about waiting for someone to leave their pool, before diving in like squatters. The temperature control in our foxhole was pure Ryder, with one cheek sat in water hot enough to boil an egg, while the other was left behind in the arctic. 

It was sad to say goodbye to New Zealand…..

One local resident sad to see us depart

…. but great to say g’day to Sydney, a city with which we are both familiar. A week of standard-issue sight-seeing ensued, including the cliff-top walk from Bondi to Coogee which encompassed great beaches, a pod of dolphins and, a bit weirdly, Emma Thompson out with her family. We had a fantastic apartment looking over Darling Harbour and enjoyed plenty of well-earned chill time in the Jacuzzi and sauna.

An opera house, apparently

We arrived in Singapore a couple of days ago (wearing jeans, hiking shoes and polar fleeces, and instantly melted in the heat the minute the plane hit the tarmac). We have another day of exploring before we head to Vietnam. Our first impressions of Singapore are of a city where the consumer is most definitely king with endlessly huge shopping malls and the whole world to buy but there are also temples, mosques and fascinating areas where the traditional Chinese, Malay and Indian way of life survives. We are slowly immersing ourselves into all things Asian and trying desperately not to break any of the obscure rules that Singapore seems to thrive on (think no diving in the shallow end, or heavy petting, then factor it up to a national scale).

Highlight: The food in Singapore is amazing, if slightly bewildering, with every type of Asian food you can imagine on offer. We have filled our boots on Malaysian, Indian and Japanese, so it is time for a Chinese tonight. (C was suggesting Pizza Hut but that idea has been vetoed by the food culture police / resident gourmand).

Lowlight: While not strictly related to our world tour, the pitiful capitulation of both of our beloved football teams has been a running sore, although (according to J) C would do well to learn the difference between finishing fourth and being cast adrift to the oblivion of the Championship.

It is time to resurrect the monkey count (possibly to be joined by an elephant count, as they are easier to count) that was temporarily suspended upon leaving Brazil. Watch this this space....