After another overnight flight with virtually no sleep we've definitely decided NOT to do that again - it spoils at least the next 1 & a half days with feeling fuzzy or completely asleep. We might be getting too old for that caper!!! When we finally got around to enjoying our time in Singapore we did a few repeats of previous pleasures. Shopping at Bugis Junction & Dilip Textiles in Arab St is always good value. An afternoon in the beautiful Gardens By Th...

Our three days in Singapore brought us to the end of our holiday & we spent our time doing some of our favorite things. Shopping took up some of our visit with a trip to Bugis Junction & the great BHG store where Geoff bought socks!!!!!!! We moved on to lunch in Haji Lane in the Arab Quarter where we'd been before for some Singaporean Mexican guacamole which was made in front of us with a mortar & pestle - very cool. Went to visit Mr Dilip at Dilip Te...

Shopping day in Dubai with a forecast temperature of around 40 degrees so we travelled by taxi & train to stay out of the sun. Visited the Gold Souk where we were the "first customers of the day" & made a couple of purchases from a store where they didn't hassle us - a nice change. Took the very efficient train to the Dubai Mall which was more crowded this visit as today was the public holiday of Eid to mark the end of Ramadan & lots of families were ...

Explored some of old Dubai today at the gold & spice souks. Very hot walking about in the sun but amazing displays of gold, diamonds & pearls - might be worth making a purchase here if we have any money left on our way back home! Sarah thinks there should be a rule about not leaving Dubai without a diamond! The spice souk was full of interesting scents including a combined frankincense & myrrh which we've never seen before & loose saffron. Dinner ...

Spent most of the day in the enormous Dubai Mall - quite an achievement for non-shop-going Geoff. We actually hardly entered any of the thousands of stores & didn't buy anything except food but had a great day. The high end stores, fashion & souk are frequented by local Emerati who seem to shop in several groups - tall, dark & (very) handsome young men wearing their immaculate white kandura robe & white headscarf ( or black baseball cap!) Young wo...