Hi everyone!

This is our first update from South East Asia - after a long (11 hour!) flight from Cape Town, we landed at 5am local time (11pm SA time) and found our way to the hostel (using a v dodgy taxi driver, let us know if anyone wants any LV or Prada handbags - he got the hookup! - debbie has her order in already). After some confused sleep, we woke up at 3pm local time (7am SA time) - if anyone has any tips on combatting jet lag, please let us know!. By 4pm, we were off exploring and found our way to Orchard RD, the heart of Singapore. Our first stop was the Lucky Plaza, an underground electronics market (I was in heaven, though I think some of the hawkers were trying to take advantage of that fact with sum curious pricing strategies! walking out of the shop gives you a 50% discount aparrently?!) Several long hours and massages (for Debbie) later, we went to a food market and had our first taste of the local cuisine. We then drooled over some of the expensive designer shops (Im sure I saw Mum and Caroline around there somewhere - Dad, have a word) and headed on to Little India. After some advice from a taxi driver, we went for tea at the banana leaf, an indian resaurant where all of your food is served onto a banana leaf in front of you and managed to meet some very over excited girls from Hull! After tea, following Sam's advice,  we then found our way to Raffles, the oldest hotel complex in Singapore for our first taste of Singapore Slingers, a famous cocktail that originates from 'the long bar' within Raffles.

On Friday (13/10) we headed into China Town, worked our way around the local markets, visited the temples and found a local food market for lunch - however, not being tempted by the fish head curry and pigs liver soup! Then much to Alecs increased delight we headed to Sim Lim Tower, six stories of electronic shops! We got there on a Rik Shaw, ( very similar to the Chuckle brothers means of transport - but less irritating), though we did get to listen to Aqua for the emtire journey! While  Alec was in digital camera heaven I headed to Bugis Street and its indoor clothes market, similar to darlington market, but with fashionable clothes, young people and no chuckle brothers - so really not like Darlington market at all! After a bit of shopping I got a manicure and pedicure for about four pounds (just to clarify this is Debbie writing now, not Alec - in case Paul was worried). For tea, we stayed in Sim Lim went to a local restaurant, feeling adventurous I ordered the chilly crab - meant to be a local favourite, alec went for the chicken and cashew nuts. After a whole crab in its shell arrived at the table, alecs order didnt seem so boring so i ate his instead ( he wasnt v.impressed).

On Saturday (14/10) we caught a local bus into Malaysia, and were now in Melaka. After the crab incident I wasnt feeling very confident in my ordering skills, so we went to Pizza hut last night, follwed by some bowling and then went to see the latest will ferrel film. The only ordering error being that we ordered 2 pizzas and could only stomach one!

Today (at 12...still suffering from jet lag) we took ourselves on a exploration around Melaka, on a walking tour. If were being honest, it turns out Melaka isnt that interesting, comparable to Redcar but with more (or fewer?) Malaysians.  Shockingly, tomorrow we are catching another bus to kuala Lumpur, we will let you know if alec decides to do another bungy jump off the worlds highest tower with a shark tied to his ankle...he loves that adrenaline rush!!??

Thank you for all your messages, all our love, Debbie and Alec